The Dancer and The Cellist
by redheadclover
Summary: Alice is a cellist, Mike is a dancer. They've known each other since grade school, and they've met up again when Alice is hired as a photographer for Glee Club. Will something happen between the cellist and dancer? Mike/OC: No Tina and Mike Pairing!
1. Girl

My name is Alice, and I grew up in Lima, Ohio. All my life I was here in Lima, and all my life I wanted out.

I knew I never did fit in with the rest of the girls. Ever since I was in kindergarden, I was never part of the girly girls who played with dolls and played house. I was more into playing with the boys in kickball, dodgeball and other sorts. The boys liked me, well they only did if I kept up with them. I had a few handful of friends, so it wasn't that I was completely a hermit. I do remember one particular boy, who liked to dance in front of all of us at recess and we would cheer him on. His name was Mike Chang.

He was nice to everyone, even to me. We were in the same class every year in elementary school. He was a average student, like me, but the only thing he loved to do was dance. Some of us didn't even know what he was doing, just throwing his arms around in the air and his legs as well. He was odd, but no one cared. When we got older we had to decide whether to sing or to play an instrument. It all changed when I got into the 4th grade, when I picked up the cello.

I didn't want to sing in front of people, that was the main reason. It wasn't that I couldn't sing, everybody could. At least that's what they told me when I had to choose between the two. But I didn't like being fully in front in people. Hiding behind a cello was much better for me, at least I wouldn't be able to open my mouth and say something. But as soon as I picked up the cello, I was home.

I played throughout middle school and high school, going through the rough patches of peers judging me and people talking behind my back about me or other people. It was a bit rough growing up, but I had one friend in the orchestra: Nora. She played the violin, and apparently to our teacher she was very good and could be a professional if she wanted to when she got older. Nora and I sticked together through middle school, and even in high school too where things got a wee bit more vicious.

Apparently we were in the band geek realm, which was odd because neither one of us was in band. They shoved the orchestra and band kids together in the same label, but I didn't mind. I had Nora, and I made another friend named Artie Abrams. I never met him before, since he went to a different Elementary and middle school, so we met freshman year when he was with a friend who was in the same class as me. He's gotten more ridicule since he was in a wheelchair from a accident when he was eight years old. But he didn't show it, he was really nice and became a good friend to me.

* * *

A lot of things changed when I was approached by Artie one day during school at my locker. I was trying to get my books in my backpack when I saw him roll up to me. He had a determined look in his eyes as I looked down at him, eyebrow raised.

"Can I help you?" I asked him. We had a unique friendship, if one of us approached the other, the other would reply, 'can I help you?'. It was odd, but it was our friendship.

"I need your help." I heard him say to me, and I could tell in his tone of voice it was a bit serious. I lost my humor then, looking at him with some concern as he kept his hand on his wheels.

"What's going on?" I asked as I closed my locker and placed my messenger bang over my shoulder. Artie rubbed his eyes for a second, something was aggravating him.

"You still take pictures, right?" He asked me aloud. I nodded my head back to him. Photography was another thing I picked up in school. My dad was a photographer, a good one too. He saw how interested I was when I was in middle school, watching him at one of his shoots for a couple getting married. After that, he started teaching me little things, how to take interesting pictures and how to angle just right. It got me hooked real bad, and when I got into high school he got me a Canon Rebel camera for my 16th birthday, one of the biggest gifts I ever got.

"You know how I'm in Glee Club? Well we needed someone to take pictures of us while we were practicing, well Rachel wanted that to show how professional we are while practicing." Artie explained, having me think of Rachel Berry. She was a but of a diva when it came to being a singer, and she was a good one. I saw her a couple of times, and I looked in once or twice at Glee Club only to get Artie and take him home. She was very good, giving me chills once or twice. But I knew where he was from when it was her and taking pictures.

"Well Jacob Israel volunteered to take pictures for us. Unfortunately, he's been taking pictures of only Rachel, and her chest." my eyes widen from hearing that. Jacob Israel creeped me out since the first day of high school, and I knew he was a horndog for girls.

"Can you take pictures? It'll get Rachel to be sane about someone kind of professional taking pictures, and it'll get Jacob out of our hair." Artie explained to me, in almost a pleading voice. I thought about it, and since I had a free period at that time, I opened my locker again and took out the Canon Rebel.

"Great! Come with me." Artie said aloud. Right as I closed the locker door, he grabbed my arm and started yanked me in the same direction. He then wheeled himself and I had to keep up with him, camera in hand and the other on my messenger bag.

"Is this such a good idea? I mean, I'm not that good to be honest, and I don't want Rachel Berry to me yelling at me like the time she yelled at the lunch lady for not having the right salad!" I said to him in a rushed tone. Artie just shook his head and waved me off.

"That salad incident was minor. She complained that she saw a pecan in her salad and blew a gasgit, but it was a walnut instead and she was fine with it. I was right next to her, so I got the earfull of madness. And you're a pretty good photographer, I've seen some of your stuff. With your years of experience and your camera, you're a shoe in for this!" Artie explained to me as he kept wheeling himself down the hallway and he turned left.

"The last time I took pictures of a group of people was in the 8th grade when I took a picture of Noah Puckerman punching out a guy for looking at him like he was interested." I explained to him, remembering that mere incident back in middle school. That poor boy had to be in the hospital for a nice chunk of the year.

"You'll be fine. All we need is a good few pictures of us rehearsing and that's all." Artie said to me as we stopped in front of the choir room. I could already hear some yelling going on in the room and Artie gave me a grave look. Man, was it that bad with Jacob?

I pushed the door open and we both went inside, and the scene in there was scary. Jacob was squaring off with Finn Hudson and Rachel Berry. Puck was trying to not laugh under his breath, but he was later slapped on the arm by Santana Lopez, who was rolling her eyes. Brittany Pierce was looking off into space, as if she caught something in the air, Mercedes Jones and Quinn Fabray were sitting together, looking mad at the situation. Tina Cohen-Chang was staying quiet all by herself, fiddling with her black and blue dyed hair and I saw someone else sitting next to her, keeping to himself. He looked very familiar, but I didn't know because we walked into the heated argument.

"All you've been doing is taking pictures of Rachel, of her chest!" Finn said in a heated tone to Jacob, who was holding his camera and had wide eyes.

"You told me to take pictures of the rehearsal." Jacob countered back.

"Not of Rachel and whenever she turns. You're just as bad as some of the baseball players. All spit but no game." Santana replied in a sighed, looking at her own nails. Artie cleared his throat and the room went quiet, everyone looking over in our direction. I then instantly hated being the center of attention. Their eyes on me made me think I was suddenly going to be pushed in a pool, or something like it.

"I found a new photographer. Alice Everdeen, from the photography club." Artie said aloud. I instantly saw Finn smile at me and Rachel walk over to me, her heels clicking on the hard floor as she did.

"You know how to take pictures?" She asked me in a huff.

"Really Rachel? You have to ask her that since she does have a camera and she is in the photography club." Mercedes said in a cold tone, but Rachel ignored her. It made me think that she didn't believe in me and what I can do.

"I've been taking pictures for about four years now, and I've won at least 3 showcases here in Lima and one in Cincinnati." I replied back to her in a rushed tone, seeing her eyes widen from that mere possibility of letting me do the job.

"How do you know she can take pictures?" Jacob asked in a heated tone, trying to show he was better. I then handed Artie my camera carefully, walking over to Jacob and grabbing his camera. I looked at it in all different angles, seeing what he was doing. I smirked, handing it back to him.

"You had the setting on outdoors, the flash was on so you were drowning out the color, not to mention it was on super macro so all you were doing was taking blurry pictures of Rachel's chest." I replied back to him, seeing him shake in terror form my intelligence of the camera. There was no sound in the room for a moment or two, you can hear a pin drop onto the floor.

"She's in." I heard from the group of students. It came from the boy whom looked very familiar, and I then knew who it was: Mike Chang. I haven't seen him since middle school, when he started to play football and stopped dancing in front of his friends. He looked the same, but he grew up well, very well in fact.

"Sorry Israel, you're out of the job." Puck said aloud, getting up from his seat and walking over to Jacob. He grabbed his jacket and walked him out of the room, and I could hear Jacob stuttering to try and win him over. Rachel looked back over at me, her face was softer this time and a small smile was on her lips.

"All we need are a few pictures of us rehearsing, showing how confident we are and how much as love singing, you know?" I nodded my head from hearing her explanation.

"And please, for the love of god, have some pictures of all of us, not just of miss thang over there." Mercedes replied aloud, and I could tell she was hinting to Rachel. Rachel rolled her eyes and walked back over to the group. Artie quietly handed me my camera, since I didn't hear him at all rolling up next to me. I took it, fixing the settings and looking through the camera lens. I stopped from seeing Mike Chang, looking right back at me and smiling at me.

Did my heart just stop, or did I fail to breathe? Damn Mike for being that cute!

This was going to be a problem, I could feel it


	2. I've Just Seen A Face

"Alright guys, that's it today." I heard Rachel say aloud as they finished their last song. I looked down at my camera, seeing that I took about fifty pictures throughout the two songs they were doing. I smiled at my progress, seeing the other students walking away and out of the choir room. They sang tow songs from two different musicals, something I thought Rachel picked on her own accord since she did solos in both.

I walked over to the piano and sat down on the stool, looking through all of the pictures and seeing how many pictures I took of each person. Each one got a good 8 to ten pictures, so in my mind that was success.

"Alice?" I heard from in front of me, I looked up and saw Mike Chang. He was holding his backpack on one hand and his other hand was in his pocket. He smiled at me, having some butterflies be evident in my stomach.

"Mike Chang?" I asked him, seeing if I was truly right on who it was or if I was proven false. He nodded his head, the smile never leaving his face. I smiled, placing the camera on the piano gently and standing up, giving him a hug. He hugged me right back, making the butterflies ten times more evident.

"I haven't seen you since the 6th grade! How are you?" He asked me with curiosity.

"I'm fine, just doing orchestra really." I replied back to him, seeing him nod his head.

"That's right, I remember you started playing in the 4th grade!" He said to me. How did he remember that? That made my day, how he remembered and how vivid it was to him, "That cello was just about your size, if not bigger."

"I hated that thing, I got a better one before going into high school." I said back to him, there being a moment or two of silence. He then pointed to my camera on the piano.

"I didn't know you picked up photography." He said to me, tilting his head to the side slightly as he looked at my camera. I nodded my head, picking it up and throwing the strap over my neck with ease.

"I started in the 6th grade. That's when you played football too, am I right?" I asked him aloud. He nodded his head, but fell silent and I saw his face change slightly. I might of hit a nerve with him, which then made me feel like a complete idiot. The bell rang, snapping Mike out of it and then clearing his throat.

"Where's your next class?" He asked me aloud, going back to his normal self.

"Physics with Bouwlare." I replied in return.

"I can walk you over there, if you want." He offered in a shrug. I nodded my head and he smiled as we both walked out of the choir room and down the hallway. THe halls were already stuffed with people, going from one place to another, so being next to Mike made it a little difficult since we were almost squished together.

"So, how is it that we never hung out in middle school and high school?" Mike asked me as we turned the corner and down another hallway. I thought about it, thinking of why we never really talked. He had his friends, and I had mine. He chose football, and I chose music. It was very simple, yet I was thinking how complicated it was.

"Well, you had football, and I was in orchestra. We never crossed paths really, if you think about it." I said back to him, seeing that he kept his eyes on me as I explained it to him.

"True, but I still think its odd that we never really talked, not like we used to in grade school back when we were 8." Mike countered back.

"We had different friends. If you think about it, our friends wouldn't of allowed us to talk to each other, orchestra kids and football players don't really mix in good conversation." I said to him, his nodded his head and looked forward.

"And we fell for it." He mumbled, sounding like he was almost defeated. It was true, we did listen to our friends and stayed with them instead of branching out, trying to make friends from a different social circle. It was sad to think about, how young and naive we were back then. I could tell it was hurting Mike a bit, he wasn't smiling anymore.

"I didn't know you were in the Glee Club, you guys sounded good." I said to him, nudging him lightly and he smiled, looking like his old self. He laughed a bit.

"Yeah I was recruited by Mr. Shuester, our director, along with Puck and Matt Ruthford. THey needed more guys and I thought it would be fun. But I'm not much of a singer." He explained to me, having me be confused for a moment or two. Before I could ask him anything, we made it to my class.

"So, I'll talk to you later?" I asked him, seeing him smile at me and nod his own head.

"Yeah, I'd like that. Since we do have a lot of catching up to do." he said to me in a light tone, something I started to like hearing. Geeze, what is wrong with me? I kept thinking in my head as I said bye to him and walked into class. I kept thinking about it, why I was suddenly going all gushy with Mike Chang and how I've never done that with him before. Maybe it was because he was now noticing me, and he was now talking to me.

Artie was in my physics class, and when he saw me coming into the class and when he saw Mike leave for his own class. I went to go sit at my own desk, a smile was still on my face. The teacher took roll and we were then given the rest of the period to do our problems. As soon as she gave us permission, Artie rolled over to me and was in front of my desk.

"So, you and Mike Chang?" He asked me, eyebrow raised and I looked up from my work. He didn't looked too convinced, so how should I ignore it? He knows I lie horribly.

"I haven't talked to the guy in years, so sue me." I replied back to him. He smiled, rolled around to be next to me as I finished another question.

"Girl, why don't you spit game with him?" He asked me in a ghetto voice. I laughed, loving how every once in awhile he would try and make me laugh with his ghetto voice.

"Isn't he with Tina Chang?" I asked him, noticing every once in awhile the two of them walk together in the hallway and talk too. I do remember when they were together, but not if they were still together.

"They broke up a couple of weeks ago. Try going through Glee Club practice and not feel the awkwardness." Artie said to me as I worked away on my problems. I then realized, from the hint of his voice, that he was kind of hurt about it too. He did date Tina at a time, and she broke it off with him to be with Mike. It sucked for him, and I didn't like it at al.

"If you think something will happen between the two of us, then you're wrong." I said to him, seeing him look from the ground to me. I knew it was true, Mike and me as a couple wouldn't seem right.

"What makes you think that?" He asked me with wonder. I sighed, throwing down my pencil and still not looking at him in the eyes.

"Come on, Artie. You and I both know the cliques and how it works." I said to him in a low tone, seeing the teacher looking over at us and then back to reading her own book at her desk.

"Since when do you, Alice Everdeen, follow the cliques?" He asked me, a small smile coming onto my face as I looked over at him. Leave it to Artie to make me think about myself and how I was viewed. I never did think about where I was on the totem poll of school politics, because it was never a big deal to me. But now that Mike Chang started talking to me, things in my head were getting complicated.

* * *

After my last period of the day, I asked my music teacher if I could practice the cello along for a hour, well until she wants me to go home. I always practiced after school, thinking it was nice to be alone and to play whatever I wanted.

I sat in my chair, my cello already in place and played Breval Sonata C Major 2nd movement by Bach. It was a nice piece to play if I was very lazy, and plus I needed a good audition piece for when I needed to try out in colleges. Plus playing music got things off of my mind, but only one thing I was still in my head.

I hated thinking about him, why should I think about him? He had one conversation, and that was it. It wasn't like it was a life changing talk that we had, we both turned out fine and did our normal business. But I replayed the talk in my head over and over, how he remembered me from years and of not talking to each other. How he knew I played the cello, when I didn't even say a thing about it. Man he was messing with my mind.

"Alice?" I hear from behind me, and I stopped playing, looking behind me and seeing Mr, Shuester at the doorway. I knew him as the spanish teacher, and I had him last year but I then knew he was the director of Glee club from Artie. I smiled at him, seeing him smile back at me in return.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" He asked me aloud, I nodded my head, clutching the neck of my cello tightly. He walked into the room, grabbing a chair that was close by, and sitting down right in front of us.

"Finn told me the situation that happened in Glee Club." my eyes widened, rethinking what happened with Jacob Israel and the picture-taking incident. Was I in trouble, did I do something wrong? Maybe I needed his permission, as the director, to take pictures.

"I'm sorry, I should of asked you before taking pictures of the Glee Club!" I blurted out, seeing him go into shock for a moment and then shaking his head, still smiling.

"No no. It's not that at all, you're not in trouble Alice. Finn came in and told me how good you did with taking pictures. I thought it would be a good idea for you to take nice pictures of the club, for their families and also for our supporters." Mr. Shue explained to me, having me nod my head as I listened to him. He wanted me to take more pictures? So this bad thing was turning out to be a good thing afterall.

"What do you say?" He asked, hope in his tone of voice and in his eyes. It seemed like a good idea, being able to practice some more. Plus I was getting his blessing now to take pictures, then I wouldn't be in trouble.

So, what was I going to loose?


	3. If I Fell

"Guys, I think you already know Alice Everdeen here." Mr. Shue said aloud as we were standing in front of the Glee Club the next day during their practice. After his convincing that it was going to be a good thing, I agreed to the photo shoot thinking it would give me more time to practice on people. He asked me to bring my camera to take more pictures.

I gave a small wave, receiving a few smiles, Especially one from Mike Chang. I tried to hide the obvious smile that was creeping on my face.

"I have asked her to take some more pictures of us for our families and relatives since the holiday season is coming up fairly quickly. And if you guys want to, we can take individual pictures as well." Mr. Shue said aloud to the group. Most of them had smiles on their faces, talking to each other in mere murmurs and then getting their attention back on Mr. Shue.

"Like a real photo shoot?" Mercedes asked, her huge smile was on her face.

"Only to help promote us as a group, but yeah something like that." Mr. Shue replied to her comment, and I heard her give herself a quiet cheer and I smiled from that remark.

"Mr. Shue, as the only one here in this room that had a very precise taste in make-up." Kurt Hummel started.

"And I in fashion." Mercedes added in.

"We think it would be a wonderful idea for the two of us to dress the club. Very casual, yet professional." Kurt explained to him aloud, and I looked to the teacher to see what he was thinking. He was a bit taken back from the idea, thinking about it himself.

"No offense Kurt, but the last thing I need is to be dressed up for a picture taken session." Puck muttered aloud, but I saw Kurt give him the roll of the eyes since he was sitting behind Puck.

"It's not going to be that bad, Puckerman. Only simple make up and a nice taste in fashion, and you've got yourself a good looking club." Kurt said aloud, having a sense of satisfactory in his tone of voice.

"It would be nice to get myself looking fine for this club, for once." Santana replied aloud, Rachel shrugging that off and getting up from her chair next to Finn.

"Well I think this will be a good thing for us, it'll boost our confidence for the next competition we have coming up!" Rachel said in a confident tone, looking over at me then.

"What day is suitable for you to take our pictures?" she asked me in a almost a bossy tone. I was silent for a moment, since she was too imitating to just answer quickly.

"Anyday is fine with me, I just take pictures." I said to her in a honest tone. I heard Mike laugh a bit, and Mercedes as well.

"Yeah calm down Rachel, she's not a professional." Mercedes said aloud. I was kind of glad she said that.

"I'm sure anyday is fine with Alice, Rachel. Right now, why don't we practice some more for our next competition, and Alice, if you want to, you can take some pictures today." Mr. Shue said aloud and I nodded my head, getting my camera ready to go as Rachel walked back over to her spot next to Finn. When I was ready to go, they were already singing their first song, which was Rihanna's _Umbrella_.

I took pictures of everyone as a group, then of individuals as they sang. Puck winked at me when I took the picture of him, having me immediately move to another person. Brittany Pierce waved, and I knew she was never the sharpest crayon in the box so I took the picture anyways. I could tell Rachel was watching me, since her eyes were following me as I took pictures of Kurt and Mercedes. She must of wanted me to take pictures of her.

Mike kept singing as I took pictures of him, but when I was going to take one more picture of him, he looked right me, through the lens, right into my eyes and gave me a small smile. I took the picture without even realizing it, seeing smiling in the process as I placed the camera back down. He smiled at me, for a mere moment, and then went back to singing. I walked back around to the front, seeing that our of the corner of my eye Tina Chang was looking at me as well: but this time in jealousy or aggrivating.

The practice was finished, and some of the members went off to leave as I stayed back to look at the pictures. I was skimming through, seeing all of the members singing. I was about to put it away when I noticed someone was watching me from behind.

"I like your pictures." I whirled around to see Kurt Hummel smiling at me with Mercedes next to him with her smile evident as well. I smiled back at him, not knowing what to do since they approached me stealth mode.

"Thank you." I replied back to them. The both of them exchanged glances and then looked back at me, smiles still there.

"We wanted to talk to you about lighting and other factors that will be contributed to our photoshoot." Kurt said to me, his flamboyant voice was ringing in the room nicely.

"Okay..." I said, not knowing what there was to talk about since I was only going to take pictures of each of the members.

"We were thinking of a light color when it came to wardrobe, maybe a light blue or yellow. Which would you prefer?" Mercedes asked me aloud, and Kurt was staring at me as well. I thought about it for a moment or two, wither color seemed so obvious to use in a picture.

"If you want my opinion." I started, and I saw them lean in a bit to hear what I had to say.

"Green." I said in a tone that was if I made a new discovery, and Kurt's eyes lit up slightly, "But a light green, almost pale. Think about it, Christmas is around the corner, so it'll be festive. Red's too bold of a color, it'll drain out the color of some of your guy's faces, and if you go too green it won't be as natural looking."

"I like it." Mercedes said aloud with some hint of approval in her voice. I smiled, feeling better that she agreed with me than thinking it was a bad idea. Kurt nodded his head, his fingers on his chin as if he was thinking a philosophical question.

"That color would do some good with the color on our faces. I approve." He said quickly and smiled at me. I smiled back at him, but then I saw Mike walking out of the classroom. He looked over at me briefly and smiled, disappearing out of the room. I looked back at the other two, seeing them look at me like they caught me stealing.

"What?" I asked them aloud, wondering why they were looking at me in that manner. Kurt smiled and Mercedes rolled her eyes.

"We saw you looking at Mike there, and even during practice his eyes were on you while you were taking pictures." Mercedes explained to me, but I laughed it off and looked down at my pictures again.

"Yeah right, I'm sure he was smiling just for the sake of getting his picture taken." I countered back in protest, but Kurt shook his head, a smile was still on his face.

"My dear, I can see that he is interested in you and that you are also interested in him. Believe me, the signs are very visible and they are being tossed back and forth between the two of you naturally like Brittany between boyfriends." I raised a eyebrow at him, but knowing it was true since Brittany would be going out with a uy any time of the day and change frequently.

"Too bad I got the look of death from his ex, Tina." I reminded him, but Kurt shook me off as I scanned through more of the pictures.

"That girl needs to get her priorities straight and not hang on him like Santana does to Puck, it's sad really. We both have tried to get her to move on, but somehow that young girl is still attached." I nodded my head, showing I was listening.

"Wait, go back." Mercedes said aloud, I wasn't aware she was looking at the pictures too. I went back a few and she told me to stop, on the picture of Mike Chang looking right at me. I looked at the picture, still thinking it wasn't real at first. There was Mike Chang, his head tilted slightly and a crooked smile was evident on his face. His eyes were warm, looking right at me as if he could see right through me. I couldn't help but smile at the picture, thinking of how nice his smile was and how cute it was that his head was tilted to the side.

"Oh, girl you have it real bad." I heard from next to me, I looked up to see Mercedes giving me a matter-of-fact look and a small smile. She caught me red-handedly and I sighed, putting the camera down so it would hang around my neck on its own accord.

"Yeah, I know." I merely replied. What point was it to deny it in front of the two of them. They could see it, and if they could...

Could anyone else?

* * *

Three days later I got the pictures in for the Glee Club. After my third period, I went over to to show him and he was very happy with him. He then took them to the Glee Club, me accompanying him of course, and handed them out to the members.

Rachel, Santana and Quinn loved theirs, and I could tell inside their brains they thought they were beautiful like goddesses. Brittany just liked her for the sake that she looked like her favorite animal. Puck just smirk, I think he had the notion that he looked like a badass, that or a girly man. Finn shrugged at his, but within a second later was reassured by Rachel he looked handsome. Artie nodded his head in approval and gave me a thumbs up. Mike, only smiled at me and nothing else. Damn him for smiling. Kurt and Mercedes smiled at me after I looked away from Mike, and I knew they had the idea.

Damn them.

After I showed the Glee Club their pictures, I went off to practice with Nora that day for her recital showcase. She was going to audition for University of California Los Angeles for a music scholarship, and her piece was a bit over the top. I volunteered to help her if she would help me with mine.

"How about this?" I asked her, playing a note for her after an hour of practicing. She listened and shook her head.

"It sounds off, what about this?" She asked me, playing her not that was like mine, but a half step up. I shook my own head.

"It doesn't sound quite right." I said to her, then singing the note as she played it to see if it sounded right. We would sing our parts from time to time to save the playing, it would seem silly but none the less it would help us out in the long run. Nora sounded okay singing. But I, according to Nora, sounded like a soul singer.

"Gah, why can't I sing like you can?" Nora asked in a playful frustrating way. I shook my head as I rang my fingers through my hair.

"I can't sing." I replied back to her.

"Actually, I think you can. You sound like a lunge singer." Nora said to her, but I waved her off as I placed my instrument back in my case and started packing it up.

"I don't know what you're talking about. You've known me since middle school, Nora. I don't sing." I reminded her and I heard her sigh. She knew I won his argument, one of many between us. I strapped on the case onto my back like a backpack, walking over to the door and looked back at her.

"I'm going home, you wanna practice again tomorrow?" I asked her. She nodded her head and packed up herself.

"Same time and place." She replied. I nodded my head, showing I heard and I said goodbye. I walked out of the classroom and down the hallway to the parking lot, but as I walked I failed to see someone near the classroom door, someone who was listening to the whole practice and me singing, and I failed to realize who it was.

It was none other than Mr. Shuester, but I didn't see that smile he had on his face.

It was going to change the whole game.


	4. Strawberry Fields Forever

Not even going into my first period of class and I had a note to meet with the guidance counselor, Miss Pillsbury. That came as a shock to me, since I was never one to get in trouble and see the guidance counselor before. But I was told she was nice, at least that's what I told from Artie. I only saw her once or twice in the hallways, and she looked really neat and tidy. Even her hair looked precise and organized.

"Ah, come in Alice." I heard as I knocked on the door of the counselor. I walked in, closed the door behind me and just stood there, feeling like my feet were now rocks. I saw Miss Pillsbury, sitting behind her desk with her hands neatly folded on top of it. She looked really nice, sweater and all. Her desk was nicely organized as well, the pens in one place and the papers in another. It scared me a bit, to think if moved a pencil one bit to the left or her hand sanitizer to the right.

"You can sit down, if you'd like." She said to me, her tone was sweet and nurturing. I smiled at her and sat down, gently placing my backpack on the floor next to me and the chair, not wanting to touch anything to set her off. She looked like she would explode in anger from the slightest malfunction.

"Did I do something wrong?" I asked her in wonder. She smiled and shook her head, her perfect hair going with her in the process.

"Of course not, you're one of the top students in this school actually. If you were ever going to be in trouble, you would go to Figgins. I personally can't handle that much stress, I get a little..."She trailed off, and I could she was trying not to think about that kind of stress. She shook it off and looked back at me, her smile back on her face.

"I was informed by Mr. Shuester that you could sing." She explained to me and I gave her a confused stare. What was she talking about? When did I sing? But then it hit me, I remember seeing him when I left practice with Nora. I didn't say anything, because he seemed like he was passing me by. But I didn't see it, the smile he had on his face when I passed him.

"I don't sing." I replied to her, feeling though I needed to keep my dignity and stay a musician, not become a singer.

"According to him you sounded like you could sing." She said to me, and I fell silent then. First Nora, then Mr. Shuester and Miss Pillsbury. Who next? I rang my fingers through my hair, not knowing what to do or what to say to them. I was caught red handed, where was I going to go with this now?

"I'm not asking you to sing for me, that's a bit out of your element I can tell. But it would be nice if you could sing just for Mr. Shuester. He's not that bad of a guy to sing it, honest." Miss Pillsbury said aloud to me, and I could tell she was telling the truth.

"I wasn't that good of a singer anyways. I mean I was help tuning my instrument." I countered back at her, feeling as though he was hearing something different than what I was singing, or humming, or whatever,

"Mr. Shuester has a good ear when it comes to listening, and he liked what you were doing." Miss Pillsbury said to me in a calm tone. I nodded my head, thinking if I sing to them then I would get it over with and go back to my life.

"So, when does he want me to sing for him?" I asked her, a small smile was coming on her face. I'll sing for them both, just to prove them wrong.

What was I going to do anyways?

* * *

I stood in front of the piano and Mr. Shuester was there with the piano player in the Glee Club, and Miss Pillsbury as well. They were staring at me, waiting to hear what I wanted to sing. I then suddenly didn't know what to do. I was more comfortable behind my instrument, but not in font of it.

"Do you know any Beatles?" I asked the piano player. He smiled and nodded his head, a man of few words. I smiled back, thinking of a good song to sing.

"Strawberry Fields." I said aloud, hearing him play the first few line aloud and I took in a deep breath. I tried to picture myself back in my own world, cello and all as I started to sing.

Let me take you down, 'cos I'm going to Strawberry Fields. Nothing is real and nothing to get hungabout. Strawberry Fields forever.

Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see. It's getting hard to be someone but it all works out, it doesn't matter much to me.

By the very end of it, I stopped and it was dead silent in the whole room. Again, the pin that could drop in here could be heard. I looked over at Mr. Shue, seeing what was going on in his head that left me very confused. Miss Pillsbury was looking at Mr. Shue, while was looking at me with some shock in his face.

"Was I bad?" I asked him aloud, feeling like he was about to unleash something mean on me for being bad. Was I bad? Really? I've heard worse, then again I had my moments in the shower. Bu t before he could say anything, I saw someone from the corner of my eye, and I looked to see it was Artie and Mike at the door. Artie looked very happy at what he saw, or heard that is. But Mike looked shocked too, really shocked, like he was hit in the face with a brick.

"That was awesome!" He said aloud, and I gave him a shocked look. He walked over, Artie rolling up next to him and they faced him.

"You didn't tell me you could sing too!" Mike said aloud, but I shook my head.

"But I didn't." I protested.

"You sounded like Adele, or even Alison Sudol!" Artie said to me, "You should join the Glee Club, we need a voice like that!"

"I don't think that's a good idea." I said in a low tone, seeing some surprised looks from everyone, including the piano player.

"Why is that, Alice? You sound great when you sing." Mr. Shue said to me in confusion. I shook my head, but then I locked eyes with Artie who realized what I was talking about.

"Alice, please for the love of all that is good, don't tell me you have stage freight." He said aloud in a drain of a tone, as if he as defeated and not me. I shook my head from his remark.

"I've played in front of people before for concerts." I countered back at him.

"But never when it comes to singing." Mr. Shue finished for me, having me look over a him and see him look right back at me. I could tell he knew what I was meaning, and it was scaring me to think that I won't be behind my cello anymore, but in front of a group of people singing.

"She can try in front of Glee Club." I heard Mike say, seeing him walk over to me with a determined look on his face. I gave him a questioning look, wondering what he was thinking about.

"Have her sing a song in front of the club, and they can give heir feedback. If they hear what Artie and I did, she'll be in." Mike explained aloud to Mr. Shue with determination in his voice. I looked over from him to Mr. Shue, wondering if I was ever going to have a say in this.

"Can I at least, think about it?" I asked everyone aloud, seeing them all look at each other and then Mr. Shue smiled, nodding his head. At least I was given some time to think.

But how much time?

* * *

I played the last note of my classical piece and stopped playing, being alone in the big autoturium to practice for one of the christmas recitals the orchestra was giving. I was given a solo since I was 1st chair, which was great to give me more stress and more things to worry about. The Glee Club situation was flooding my head, making me think about why I even sang for them. Should I join, have another thing to worry about and to be stressed over? But then again I would have some fun, no more playing the cello for once in my day.

"You sounding good there." I heard over to my left near the side of the stage. Nora walked over with a small CD player in her hand and the chord looked like it was already plugged into the stage. She placed it on the floor and walked over to me, grabbing my cello and placing it gently on the floor.

"Come on, breathe for a moment or two and get loose." Nora said to me, pulling me up from my chair and over to the player, putting on the music from a push of a button and some music came on. It was Bruno Mars, and his new song Grenade.

_Easy come Easy go_  
_That's just how you live oh_  
_Take take take it all_  
_But you never give,_  
_Should of known you were trouble_  
_From the first kiss had your eyes wide open,_  
_Why were they open?_  
_Gave you all I had_  
_And you tossed it in the trash,_  
_You tossed it in the trash, you did._

She sang the first part in her usual tone, it was nice and brassy. I then joined in on the chorus, liking how the song sounded and how fluid it was flowing through, It made all of my stress, all of my thoughts about school and fitting in, all about Glee Club, float out of my mind. The only thing that was still occupying my mind, was Mike Chang

_To give me all your love is all I ever asked cause what you don't understand, is id catch a grenade for ya._  
_Throw my hand on the blade for ya,_  
_Id jump in front of a train for ya._  
_You know I'd do anything for ya._  
_See I would go through all this pain take a bullet straight through my brain._  
_Yes I would die for ya baby, but you won't do the same._

As soon as the song was over, I felt a wave of relief going through me quickly and I started to laugh, falling to the floor with Nora. Our laughter was flowing through the big little theater, echoing off the walls and chairs like bells. I didn't care I was laughing with my best friend along in a big room, it was a nice moment to laugh. I needed a laugh, for once in a couple of days I really needed a laugh.

When Nora stopped laughing I got a little confused. I looked over at her, still giggling like a little girl and seeing her look out to the empty audience. I stopped laughing as well, looking in the same direction and seeing Finn and Rachel at the exit, looking at the two of us like we were aliens. I then felt mortified, not knowing what to do or what to say. Now they think I am so weird, now will they let me into their Glee Club. I shot up from the ground of the stage and was about to leave when I heard Rachel call out.

"Wait! Alice, wait a minute!" I stopped, seeing her and Finn run down the aisle and to the stage, looking up at me for their spot. I looked down at them, not knowing what to say or do. Nora was stuck in the middle, looking back and forth.

"I'm...gonna go outside." Nora said aloud, thinking she would break the tension. She got up and walked over to me, placing a hand on my shoulder as if to reassure me.

"I'll see you in a few." She said to me in a soft tone, I nodded my head and she walked away. I looked back to Finn and Rachel, seeing smiles on both of their faces.

"Artie told us what happened today at school, and we were going to talk to you about it tomorrow when-" Finn started, but he was cut off by Rachel.

"We were practicing our duet in the choir room and I wanted to come in here to have the both of us get Acquainted with the acoustics of the auditorium here, and we couldn't help but hear you and Nora in here singing." Rachel ended for Finn, and he just nodded his head.

"And what we heard was great, really great. I think it's something we do need in the club." Finn explained to me, and I could tell he was genuine about it. Now that made me think, if they thought I was good, and so did the others in the choir room, especially Mike, then why refuse it? What's the worst, or best, that could happen?

"I'm in."


	5. She Loves You

I snapped the picture, of a uncomfortable looking Puck in the choir room. That day we were taking individual pictures for the Glee Club and also for their christmas cards going to the family. After my incident in the auditorium, Finn and Rachel accompanied me to Mr. Shue and I told him I was in for Glee Club. He was thrilled, and I had to get the drill down from Rachel, which felt like I was going to be placed in the army instead of a club. That and I felt my teeth were rotting.

I already had half of the club done with pictures, and they seemed to like it really. Mercedes seemed like a natural, Rachel gave me a smile that almost scared me, and Finn was casual. THen I had Brittany, who stared off into space for a few pictures, but I told her I had a piece of candy if she looked at the camera, in which she did and I gave it to her. Seemed like I was going to need some more candy to hold me over that day. Quinn's smile was very lovely, and Santana gave me a almost diva like look, and now I was working on Puck.

"You don't look to happy about this." I said to him, fixing a setting on my camera that was propped on a tri-pod. Puck scoffed and looked down at the pale green shirt he was wearing.

"Did you see what we had to wear?" He asked me, and I walked over to him to stand in front of him. He had a nice dress shirt on, with his regular baggy jeans and shoes. And I could tell he was fighting Kurt when it came to make-up, because he was only sporting a hint of foundation.

"It's not that bad. Finn liked it." I commented. Puck rolled his eyes.

"Finn likes anything handed to him from Rachel." He muttered and I laughed from his remark. How was I going to get him comfortable? My dad would do it all the time on his job sites and with the people he takes pictures for.

"Okay, show me how you usually stand." I said to him, seeing him raise a eyebrow at me and then stand up from the stool. It took him a second, because who really thinks about how he stands. He then shoved his hands in his front pockets and hunched forward a bit. I studied it, thinking of how to make him feel good about this. He didn't know it, but this was making him real uncomfortable.

"Place your hands in your back pockets, and lift yourself up just a bit." I told him, seeing him do as I say slowly, and I could tell he wanted to get it right.

"Okay, and now place your weight on your right foot, but not too much." I said to him, seeing him do that same manuver. Now he looked much better. I smiled, seeing now that I can take pictures of him and not see pain on his face. I walked back to my camera and took some pictures, seeing a small smile on his face as he felt better and more confident.

"Is that a smile I see, a genuine smile?" I asked aloud, taking another picture and seeing him look at me through the lens.

"Not a single world to anyone, got it?" He asked in a low tone, and I nodded while taking one more picture. I then stood back up completely, giving him a thumbs up.

"You're good." I said to him, seeing him shaking it off a bit and nod his head at me. He was about to leave when he looked back at me, a genuine smile was evident.

"Thanks for that, by the way." He said to me, and I smiled back.

"No problem. And this whole thing, it never happened." I reminded him. He nodded his head, his usual stud face back on.

"Not at all." He added and then walked out of the room. Walking back to my camera, I looked at the pictures quickly before the next member came in. Puck in the beginning did look like he was going through torture, but when I fixed his stance he looked like he was enjoying it, almost that is.

"I guess it's my turn eh?" I looked up to see Mike Chang walking into the choir room. He was wearing the same kind of dress shirt as Puck, sleeves rolled up to his elbows and all. His hair was the same, but it was nicely swooped to the side and away from his eyes. Mercedes must of done that, if not Kurt. He smiled at me as he walked over to the stool.

"Should I sit here?" he asked me, pointing to the stool. I nodded my head as I got my camera ready.

"If you want to." I replied back to him. His nodded his head and simply sat on the stool, not knowing what else to do. I didn't know if he was doing that on purpose or he simply had no clue. I smiled and walked over to him, standing in front of him and grabbed his arm.

"It's pretty obvious I have no idea what I'm doing huh?" He asked me in a laugh as I placed his right arm on his knees that were up. I laughed from his remark.

"Puck was worse. You never took family pictures?" I asked him aloud, seeing him smile as I placed his left arm on the left knee.

"I did, but my mom would use force to place me wherever she wanted me to be. I've never done one just by myself." He explained as I looked to see my progress. He was hunched over, so I gently placed my palm on his chest and my other hand on my lower back, making him lean back up and stay slanted but not much.

"Are you sure you're not a professional?" He asked me in a low tone, since I was pretty close to him it would be odd to simple talk. I smiled, moving back a bit to see how I did.

"Just a teenager, I learned from my dad. Now stay there." I told him in a stern tone, he smiled as I walked back to the camera and looked through the lens. He just sat there, not knowing what to do.

"Smiling does help every once in awhile." I reminded him, and he smiled instantly. I took the picture and looked back at him over the camera.

"Try to think about something that makes you laugh...like the incident where Rachel totally ate it on the banana peel yesterday at lunch." I said to him, seeing him smile widely from thinking about that memory. I do remembering seeing it happen at lunch when I sat with Nora, Rachel's hair was covered in pasta.

"And Brittany talking about how her dog can talk." I said, seeing his smile widen even more from that and I took two more pictures when I had the chance. I looked up at him and walked over, seeing the smile never left his face.

"Here." I said, grabbing his arms gently and pulling him up from the stool. He got up with ease, his hands falling to his sides and I straightened out his shirt. Mike was silent as I did this, making me think what was he doing while I was fiddling with his shirt. I looked up at him, wondering. He was staring at me, a small smile was on his face and his head down towards me. Neither one of us did anything, just stared at each other and I felt my breath leaving me. Was it because he was so close to me, how I could smell the Old Spice on his skin? It was making me light headed, and I had no idea what to do or what to say.

The moment ended when I blinked, and we both snapped out of it. Mike leaned back a bit and I tried to get my composure back again. He shoved his hands in his front pockets, making me smile with a thought of brilliance!

"Stay like that." I said to him, moving back to my camera and then aiming at him. He smiled at the camera, and it was one of the nicest smiles I ever got from him as I took the picture. It was just as nice as the picture before, when he was looking right at me with his head tilted to the side slightly. I took a few more pictures of him in that position.

"That's about it for you." I replied, still looking through the camera. He was about to say something else when my phone started to ring. My ringtone was in fact Down With Webster's Your Man, one of my favorite songs to sing and rap to. Yes, I rap, but only to good songs with meaningful lyrics. This song was one of them.

I was about to pick it up but I saw Mike tapping his foot to it, moving his body back and forth with the rhythm slightly. That surprised me, seeing him move his foot and dance like that, I haven't seen that since we were in grade school.

After staring at him, he looked at me, snapping out of his own world and looked confused as I turned off the music and took out my iPod.

"What?" He asked me, and I smiled as I found the song itself.

"Since when do you dance?" I asked him, almost in the same tone as he asked me when I was a photographer. He laughed and as I pressed play on the song, he started dancing.

_And if you want me girl I will be your man_

_And if you want me girl I will be here forever _

_And if you want me girl i will be your man _

_and if you want me girl i will be here forever_

Mike started to pop and lock with the beat that was going on, dancing around the stool like it was a human being and I laughed at how he danced. I turned it up louder for him as he looked fluid in his dancing. The way he moved his arms and legs, how smooth his movements were from his chest to his feet, it made me think of someone swimming in a pool or the ocean: fluid and gracefully. But that time I couldn't help but sing along with the music, and when the rap section came on I rapped along with it, seeing Mike smile as he started dancing around me like the stool.

_I'll take you all around as long as were on solid ground_

_I'll introduce you to town and never will I let you down_

_One look from you and I think I must have gone to heaven now_

_The fact that Im with Webster is hard enough to get my head around_

_Shes as hard as ACDC she gets my thunder struck_

_Shes a star a four leaf clover but I wont press my luck_

_Girl Im talking about you so dont be so scared of trust_

_I think Im better off with you you say compared to what?_

The two of us really didn't think of someone walking in, but as soon as the door closed we both stopped and looked over. There was Artie, with Finn behind him and holding onto his wheelchair, and the both of them had smiles on their faces. Artie raised his eyebrow at me, having me give him a questioning look. I immediately turned off the music and Mike straightened up a bit, almost like he was caught by a teacher.

"Oh please, don't let the two of us stop you from rocking out." Artie said in his ghetto voice. Mike and I looked at each other, wondering what to do, but we both smile and laughed out of the blue. Finn laughed a bit too, having me think he enjoyed what he saw.

"We were wondering if you wanted to come along with us, and Kurt and MErcedes to the movies tonight, since it's friday." Finn said aloud to the both of us.

"What movie is it?" I asked aloud in wonder to the both of them.

"Some action flick, the one with The Rock in it. Kurt didn't like the idea, but it was either that, or Eclipse." Finn said in a low tone with the last part. I was never a fan of the stupid vampire franchise anyways, if vampires sparkle and attract women, not to mention keep them in a abusive-type relationship, then that's crossing the line. I looked at Mike, who looked at me and shrugged.

"Okay."


	6. Something

We were watching Eclipse, at the movies, and I was about to punch something. I sat next to Mike in our line of friends in the front of the theater for Artie, and Rachel being the only one wrapped in attention with the movie. Finn tried to get into it, only for Rachel's sake, Kurt looked either utterly confused or in pain, Mercedes wasn't having any of it, Artie was trying not to laugh, and Mike and I looked in shock and what we were seeing.

"Why are we watching this again?" Mike asked as he leaned over to me. I leaned back to him, still watching the movie and wondering why the vampires were acting like this.

"The only other movie that was available here was that that owl movie, and I don't think any of us want to sit through a movie listening to owl that have British accents." I replied back to him, seeing him nod his head and keep his intense look on his face. We watched a little bit more, seeing the vampire dude and the werewolf yelling at each other over the girl who tried to make them reason. This movie really didn't go down well with me, making me think I was watching a soap opera instead of a real movie. I looked down the aisle at Rachel, seeing her look at the screen with intense eyes. I leaned back in my seat, knowing that we were in the front seats and the rest of the theater was deserted.

"This is worse than Rachel taking over Glee." Mike said to me in a low tone, having me smile from the mere thought. He was right with that.

"And they call this entertainment. She just needs to grow a spine and actually act." I whispered to him, hearing him laugh as we looked back down to Mercedes and Kurt. They looked back at us with drained looks on their faces. Kurt rolled his eyes and Mercedes make a slight gagging sound, making me laugh and cover my mouth from laughing too hard, or else face the wrath of Rachel Berry. Mike smiled from me laughing, and we both tried to watch some more of the movie, which was surprisingly making me tired from just seeing all of the drama. My head started to feel heavy, probably because I was getting tired earlier that day and I didn't take a nap. Plus from eating some of the popcorn and candy before the movie, it was making me drowsy. The movie was starting to be a blur as I felt sleep coming through me.

* * *

I woke up from a small shake. I rubbed my eyes and yawned a bit, wondering what just happened. The movie was already over, at least I didn't watch the entire thing. I then realized my head was on a shoulder, and it was Mike's shoulder. He was looking down at me, and small smile on his face as I got up from his shoulder completely. That must of been awkward, sleeping with my head on his shoulder throughout the whole movie. I immediately looked at his shoulder, only to see if I drooled on him. Nothing showed.

"How was the movie?" I asked him aloud, still trying to get the sleep out of me. Mike shrugged, rubbed his hair with his fingers as we both got up from the seats.

"It was your typical teenage movie: angst and sex." He replied aloud to me as we walked out of the theater, "I don't know which one was worst: the acting or the whole vampire scenario." Mike muttered to me as we went outside into the cold. We met up with the rest of the Glee Club, huddled together as it was very cold and bitter.

"I thought it was a good movie!" Rachel said in a cheery tone, "Very romantic."

"If you think thats romance, then we are all doomed." Mercedes said aloud in a groan, and I smiled fro her saying that. But then Kurt was shoved by somebody from behind, having him almost fell forward. He whirled around and low and behold, it was Dave Karofsky from school. He was also out for blood, anyone who didn't fit in with his crowd. He was also very mean and cruel to everyone that wasn't in his mind good enough. And I knew he had it out for the Glee Club. Not as bad as the band geeks, since I knew that ridicule. But non the less, it was bad.

"Watch it Hummel." He growled at Kurt, whom looked like he was going to cry from the mere sight of Karofsky. Finn immediately walked over to Kurt, pushing him behind him gently and facing him.

"Leave him alone, Karofsky." Finn said to him in a low tone, while the rest of us took a few steps back. Dave scoffed, jabbing Finn once with his two fingers on his chest.

"Don't get in my face, Hudson." Karofsky said to him in a threatening tone. Finn stayed firm on his ground, showing that he wasn't going to move.

"This isn't school." Finn said aloud to him, and I saw Karofsky tilt his head to the side, letting all of us know that he was going to do something stupid.

"You're right, it isn't school." Karofsky said aloud, his hand making a fist at his side. I didn't want Finn to get hurt, or any of us. So I did the one thing I could think about, and I wasn't even thinking. I moved away from Mike and right in front of Finn, and in front of Karofsky as well. Finn immediately backed away as Karofsky looked down at me with confusion.

"Back off, Dave." I said in a low tone. His eyes drilled into mine, trying to scare me. But I wasn't going to move.

"Excuse me?" He asked me, as if he didn't hear me before.

"You heard me, Karofsky. You leave him alone. You think you're better than us because you hit a plastic puck on ice and everyone adores you, but you are so pathetic." I said back to him, and I saw the anger rising in him. I heard Kurt and Rachel gasp, as well as shifting feet behind me. The group was uneasy from what I said, but it was true. He had no right to pick on me, or Kurt, or anyone for that matter. He only did it for the sake of thinking he was higher than others.

"You better move out of my way, or I'll have to make a change to that pretty little face of yours." He said in a threatening tone, taking a step closer to me. That was when I was scared. I only thought I was going to say my piece and be done with it, but he was wanting to hit me. Would he hit me? That was the last thing I wanted to see.

"Get away from her." I heard in a low growl behind me. Before I could say anything, or he could do anything to me, Mike was in front of me then, having Karofsky back up a few steps. I saw anger in Mike's eyes as he moved to be in front of me, his hands making fists and saw the veins popping out of his hands. Finn gently grabbed my arms and pulled me back slightly, away from the two of them.

"And what are you going to do, Chang?" Karofsky asked in a coy smile. Mike still looked like he was going to snap at any moment, and that was the last thing I wanted him to do. It wasn't the same Mike I knew, it wasn't his nature.

"If you come near Alice, or anyone in the Glee Club, I'll personally rip your head off on and off the field." Mike answered him, having me gasp as his aggressive nature was something I never saw coming.

"And I'll help him." Finn said right behind me, his hands still on my arms, holding me back gently but I heard the bitterness in his tone of voice. Karofsky looked at the both of them, then feeling that they both were telling the truth. He kept his cold star and composure.

"Just stay away from me, and we won't have any problems." Karofsky said aloud in a bitter tone, then walking away while shoving his hands in his pockets. As soon as he was a good amount of distance away from us, I felt Finn's hands leave my arms gently and a waves of relief went through me quickly.

"Damn, who knew Alice can take on Karofsky on her own." Mercedes said aloud, having me look over at her and see a small smile on her face. I felt like smiling too, since I felt like I did take him on.

"You okay?" I heard Finn asked me from behind. I looked behind me at him, seeing some worry in his eyes.

"You don't need to worry about me, I was more worried about Kurt." I said, looking over at Kurt, who shook his head.

"I can handle myself, but thank you." he said to me, and I could tell he was grateful that I stood up for him. Rachel rushed over to Finn, wrapping her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

"I thought that was heroic." Rachel said to him, and I heard a chuckle from Finn.

"You say that because we just watched the movie." Mercedes said aloud as she wrapped an arm around Kurt.

"Come on, let's head back to the cars." Finn said aloud, and the four of them starting to walk down the street on the sidewalk. I was about to join them until I notice Mike was still next to me, standing there. He turned around finally, looked a bit calmer but still a little wound up about the Karofsky situation.

"Thanks." I said to me, seeing a small smile come on his face. I was glad to see the normal Mike again, not the Mike that was filled with anger and hate.

"I wasn't gonna let him hurt you." Mike said to me in a honest tone. I tried to hide the smile that was creeping up on my face. We both then started to follow the group down the street, walking side by side. It was nice walking with him, and having some peace and quiet from the previous events.

"Karofsky was always a jerk to everyone in the Glee Club, especially Kurt." Mike said to me, and I nodded my head.

"I just don't get why he so mean to everyone." I added to his statement. He only shrugged, and then when I looked over at him I saw a small smile appear on his face.

"What?" I asked him. He smiled and looked ahead for a moment or two, then back down at me. I hated the fact that he was taller than me, damn him.

"I never met a girl who can size herself up to Karofsky like you, and equally may I add." he said to me, and I laughed, shrugging as if it was no big deal.

"I've had to deal with him and his bullying for some time, and I was done with it tonight." I told him in a truthful tone. It was true, his bullying was pushing me to the point of wanting to punch him out. It was wearing me down, Kurt down, and everyone else affected by it. How could be live like that?

But my mind was occupied when Mike gently held my hand in his as we kept walking. He didn't have to say anything, neither did I. Just the fact that he was holding my hand showed me, told me silently, that he cared for me and wanted to help me out, with not only Karofsky but other ways as well.

And I wouldn't want it any other way.


	7. I Want To Hold Your Hand

I sang the long note Rachel wanted me to sing for our Glee Club practice. After the Karofsky incident, most of us tried to stray away from him at school, and whenever we were in the halls. He would give me death glares, but I knew he wouldn't try anything really when Finn and Mike were around. And since that night, Mike would keep an eye out for the guy for me, since he thought Karofsky as out for my blood.

"Good, and now we should sing that at the bridge, then it would sound more full." Rachel said aloud as she stood in front of the group. Mr. SHue had to go to a faculty meeting that day, and he left Rachel in charge. So with her in charge, the practice was going to last forever.

"Rachel, we've been singing that same section, of the same song, for the past half an hour. How about some variety?" Mercedes asked aloud, clearly annoyed and over the practice. I was too, rubbing my eyes and cracking my neck, feeling how stiff it was.

"We need this to be perfect, Mercedes." Rachel said back to her, trying to hold back the notion of snapping at her.

"We are already perfect, so why overdue it?" Mercedes asked her, her voice was already rising slightly.

"How about we take a break?" Finn asked aloud, and I could tell he was trying to break the ice with the two and make the practice more presentable.

"Yes, a break would be nice since we've been singing constantly for the past hour." Kurt said aloud, looking over at me and rolling his eyes. Rachel huffed, clearly not winning her battle of dominating the song.

"Fine, but only ten minutes." Rachel replied to the group, walking over to Finn and sitting down next to him in a huff. Finn smiled slightly, wrapping a arm around her to comfort her as the others got up and walked around, stretching their backs. I sat down in my seat, already tired from that day and was about to get something from my backpack when Mike sat down next to me, he looked tired also.

"You know when I said that Eclipse was just as bad as Rachel taking over Glee?" He asked me, leaning over to say it. I nodded my head, seeing him lean over a bit more to me.

"I lied." I snorted from his remark, and he started laughing with me. Mike knew how to make me laugh like this, even when we were going through a grueling practice. After a few seconds of laughing, we stopped but still smiled, thinking about it.

"Hey, I wanted to ask you something." Mike asked me, a smile was still on his face. I smiled back at him, tilting my head to the side.

"And what is that?" I asked him. He then suddenly got a little serious, looking like he was about to give a real big speech or something.

"I was wondering if you wanted to, you know, hang out sometime, out of Glee Club." he said to me in short sentences really, like he was trying to find the right wording.

"Don't we hang out outside of Glee Club, and school?" I asked him, feeling as though I was going to be asked a trick question or some sort.

"Yeah we do, but I was thinking...more like...a date." I instantly froze, no more laughter and no more funniness. He asked me on a date, Mike did. I thought it was a trick, something my ears were doing to me to make me think it was real. But, it was real, really real. He did ask me out on the date, I wasn't being tricked. So I could only say one thing to that.

"Yes." His eyes widened when I told him that simple word, and I held my breath to hear what he had to say. I did want to go on a date with him, it would be nice to talk and get to know him without the rest of the group around.

"Really? You wanna go on a date with me?" He asked me in shock, making me laugh a bit.

"Of course." I merely replied to him, seeing his smile go wide and his nodded his head.

"Well, okay then." He said to me in a laugh, and I laughed with him. We were going to go out on a date, the two of us and no one else, which meant one thing.

I needed Kurt and Mercedes to get cute!

* * *

"Alice, Mike is here." I heard my mom called to me as I looked in the mirror. I was wearing skinny jeans, my favorite pair of flats, and a nice v neck shirt. my hair was slightly curled and the bangs were clipped back and away from my face. My makeup was nicer than usual, more mascara and eye liner but in a natural way, since Kurt was over and helping me. He left before Mike got to the house, which made me feel better.

I walked out of my room and down the hallway, seeing Mike talking with my mom. He looked nice, real nice like the day I took his pictures for Glee Club. He was wearing a light blue dress shirt, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows and a black waistcoat. His hair was the usual, tossed to the side with a flick of his head as he looked over at me. He smiled widely as my mom moved out of the way.

"Hi." I said in a shy tone. He kept his smile on me.

"Hi." he replied to me in the same way, having me laugh as he held out his arm for me to take. I took it with no hesitation.

"Make sure you're home by 11 tonight." My mom said to me in a stern tone, but I could tell she was fine with this.

"I'll make sure she's home by then Mrs. Everdeen." Mike said to her in his sweet tone. She smiled and walked out of the room, having me feel butterflies going on in my stomach again.

"So, where are we going?" I asked him as we walked out of the house and down the walkway. Mike smiled and looked over at me as I was still attached to his arm.

"It's a surprise." He said to me in a light tone. I gave him a surprising look, seeing him laugh a bit.

"Hey, since when do you do surprises?" I asked him as we went over to his small car. He only kept his smile, leaving me to wonder what he had up his sleeve.

* * *

The roller rink was pretty crowded, and that surprised me since it was a Thursday night. But none the less it was nice to go out and skate. The last time I did skate was only a few weeks ago with Nora, only to get out of the house and have some fun, away from the cello and violin for once.

Mike and I got our skates, and after getting them on we headed over to the rink. I could tell Mike was going to help me onto the rink, but I skated onto the smooth wood surface with ease, seeing a surprised look on his face.

"Hey, I didn't know you skated." He said to me with surprise in his tone. He skated onto the rink as well, looking just as good as me.

"And you thought I was only good at playing the cello." I said back to him, hearing him chuckle as we started skating around the rink.

"Don't forget singing too." Mike said to me, having me stick my tongue out at him.

"You're pretty good on your feet as well." I said to him, seeing him smile and bow to me slightly, he then slipped and fell on the ground, having me try not to laugh at him as he was laying on the ground.

"I take that back." I replied aloud in a smirk, seeing him playfully glare at me as he got up from the ground. We started skating again, in silence for a minute or two, getting the groove of skating. But I didn't want it to be real silent between, after all, this is a date.

"So, since we hardly talked at all during middle school or high school." I said aloud, seeing him look over at me, "Why don't we play the Or Game."

"The Or Game?" Mike asked me in confusion as we made the first turn.

"You never played? It's the game where I ask you a question that only has two options." I explained to him, seeing him nod his head showing he understood.

"First question: Pirates or ninjas." I asked him, seeing a wide smile on his face. It seemed like a silly question, but since when were we serious.

"Ninjas for me." he replied, making me raise a eyebrow at him.

"Why ninjas?" I asked him aloud.

"For one, it's not because we both are Asian, but have you seen those guys move? I wanna move like that." he replied, then looking at me, "You?"

"Pirates, they live on the sea and they know how to fight." I replied back to him. He smiled from my remark and then thought to himself for a moment or two.

"My turn, rap or country music?" He asked me, and I couldn't help but give him a questioning look.

"Rap, of course." And the rest of the game went along like that. I found out that Mike loves pizza, ninjas, indie music, Harry Potter over Twilight, and donuts. I was glad to get to know him more, but now it was going to be tested when a slow song came on over the intercom. It was Fascination by Nat King Cole, a song that I loved to listen to when I was younger, mostly from my dad who was a huge oldies buff. The mood was set gradually, the lights going dark slightly and the good feeling of warmth going through me. I didn't know what to do, and I could tell Mike had no clue either since we were both skating close together and other couples were coming into the rink as well.

_It was fascination _

_I know _

_And it might have ended _

_Right then, at the start _

_Just a passing glance _

_Just a brief romance _

_And I might have gone _

_On my way _

_Empty hearted_

I felt like I should take his hand, since this was a couple's song. But I felt frozen, in the arm that is, as we kept skating around the rink. Mike, as far as I could tell, wanted to do something too but was afraid to act on it. So we were both in the same boat as I looked at the shade of lights, the soft mood the song was giving, and the other couples intertwined with each other.

_It was fascination _

_I know _

_Seeing you alone _

_With the moonlight above _

_Then I touch your hand _

_And next moment _

_I kiss you _

_Fascination turned to love _

I then felt it, Mike gently taking my hand in his and I felt my heart swelling up ten fold as we skated together now. It felt right, holding his hand and behind this close to him. He seemed fine about it too, so the both of us were enjoying this very much. At least I thought we were. My thoughts were occupied on other things when I didn't notice what I was doing. I slipped on my left foot, almost falling to the ground and looking like a idiot when I felt a hand go on my waist holding me up. I felt relived that Mike caught me, and the way he was both holding my hand and my waist made me feel protective and cared for. We both looked at each other for a couple of seconds, not doing anything else or saying anything else.

"You okay?" He asked me, some concern was in his tone of voice, along with some warmth. I only nodded my head, trying not to look like a idiot as my eyes were going from his eyes to his lips in a rapid pace.

"Yeah, I think so." I replied back to him, seeing him smile as he still held my hand. It made me think, did I want this with Mike? But the song that was playing said in all, to me it did anyways.

_It was fascination _

_I know _

_Seeing you alone _

_With the moonlight above _

_Then I touch your hand _

_And next moment _

_I kiss you _

_ Fascination turned to love  


* * *

Author's Note: _Hey guys, let me know how I'm doing by leaving me some reviews! thanks for your support!


	8. It's Only Love

Certain things happen in my life that make me question what I believe. Like the cereal you've had since you were a kid, when you try a new cereal, you then debate on which one you like. Or the same sneaker brand, if you go for a new brand or stay the same. All in all it's about testing the waters, and seeing where you land. I never thought about it in such a manner, up until one morning.

I walked through the hallways, thinking of it going to be a normal day. It was up until I saw some people running away from me, as if they were going to witness something. I only saw this kind of thing when someone was in a fight, and I instantly saw some of the Glee club members going with the crowd as well. I walked over to Sam, Quinn's boyfriend and nudged him.

"What's going on?" I asked him aloud over the noise of the students. He shrugged as we followed the small crowd.

"I don't know, I just heard there was a fight and Karofsky was involved." Sam replied to me, and I rolled my eyes. Of course Karofsky would get in a fight with someone, probably from getting a funny look or something. But as we walked over to the actual scene, my heart instantly dropped and I moved before I could even think.

Karofsky was standing in a defensive stance, his hands were fists at his side and his face was in rage. But that wasn't the one thing that was making me run over, it was Mike. He was on the floor in front of Karofsky, and there was blood coming down from his lower lip and his right eye was already bruising. I shoved past students, and I knew Sam was right behind me trying to stop me. But I was fast then him, getting over to Mike and crutching down in front of him.

"Mike, you okay?" I asked him in concern as I looked at what happened at his face. HIs right eye, all around it, was looking pretty bad and his bottom lip was bleeding bad. Some of the blood got on his shirt, but I was more focused on his head. He looked like there was some serious damage done to him, since he wasn't moving much and was still on the floor.

"What did you do?" I asked Karofsky in shock and a hint of anger as I looked at him from where I was back to Mike.

"Your boyfriend here was in my way, and he got on my nerves." Karofsky said aloud, making me feel anger coming in now. Mike looked up at me from his spot on the floor, the area around his eye going blue.

"Alice." he said in a warning tone, but I said nothing and I looked over at Karofsky, still crouched down in front of Mike.

"What gives you the right to hit someone?" I asked him, my anger rising from the pit of my stomach. He scoffed, thinking that was a silly question.

"Hey, he got in my way and was pissing me off." He snapped back at me as I got up completely, standing in front of him and having anger going through me in a fast rate. I was so mad it was going to get ugly if he kept talking.

"That gives you no right to hit someone who has done nothing to you." I growled at him, hearing the crowd around us talk to each other about what was going on and I saw the anger rising in Karofsky's face.

"You need to back off." he said to me, taking a step towards me, but this time I was no longer afraid of him. I saw Finn coming out from the mob of the crowd, along with Sam and Puck and they looked at the scene in horror.

"What are you going to do, hit me?" I asked him, throwing up my arms at him and seeing him flinch slightly. He was seriously thinking about it, I can see it in his eyes.

"I'm warning you, Everdeen." he said to me in a low tone, and his anger was about to hit the boiling point.

"No, you need to back off, Karofsky. You've been nothing but a jackass to everyone here and none of us deserved it. The one person who deserves the kind of pain, any time at all, is you." I practically yelled at him, hearing gasps all around me. he was silent then, but his face was hard as a rock and I saw the vein popping out of his hand.

I heard something moving behind me and I saw Mike getting up slowly from the ground. Instantly, I grabbed his arm, helping him up and seeing him walk over to stand in front of me. He was going to try and defend me, again, but this time he was weak. I grabbed his arm, hoping he wasn't going to do anything stupid.

"Want some more, Chang?" He asked Mike in a sneer, but Mike stayed silent. Was he going to do something again? He looked bad enough that he might collapse. Mike shook his head, looking drained.

"I'm done with this." He replied back to him, having me look at him with worry. I thought he was going to slug him and get it over with once and for all. But he gently grasped my hand and turned his back on Karofsky, looking at me and then started to walk away. I followed him closely, thinking of what we were going to do. I had to talk to him, to see what was going on with him and what made this happen.

"Don't turn your back when I talk to you!" I heard behind me. I looked for one second, and things were shifting in a quick state. Karofsky walked forward, grabbing Mike's shoulder and having him whirl around. Mike turned around, immediately getting punched square in the stomach. He fell to the floor in a heap, and I saw Finn, Sam and Puck coming over in a fast pace.

"Hey!" I said, trying to shove Karofsky out of the way from Mike. But he immediately grabbed my jacket, whirled me around and shoved me up against a locker. The sound was like thunder, loud and disturbing. Everyone was silent then, no one spoke and no one moved as I felt the pain going through my back dramatically. I closed my eyes, being up against the locker and having my body behind slammed against metal. It was like time stopped, and all I could do was wait for him to hit me. I was already barely touching the ground with my feet, he had me lifted up and against the locker.

"David Karofsky!" I heard a booming voice, and I saw to the left Figgins in the small circle. Mr. Shue was behind him, his eyes wide from what he was seeing. I would be two, since two of his Glee Club members were getting beating up by Karofsky, and one of them was a girl. Karofsky looked over, his eyes going wide and he knew he was in trouble. He still held onto me, and I felt light headed from the big impact of my head hitting the lockers.

"You release Miss Everdeen." Figgins commanded in a stern tone, and Karofsky immediately released me. I was back on my feet with ease, clutching my head and seeing Mr. Shue walk over to me with concern.

"Alice, are you okay?" he asked me, fear in his tone of voice. I nodded my head, feeling a wicked headache coming on. Karofsky was walking away from Figgins, who was taking him to his office. The sea of students were moving away from the two of them as they passed, as if they had some kind of disease that could be retrieved from touching them slightly. I looked back to Mr. Shue, then suddenly at Mike who was on the floor.

Finn was already over Mike on the floor, and Mr. Shue walked over to him. He crouched down next to him, placing his hand on his back and leaning over Mike to see if he was okay. I went to move, wanting to see if he was okay, but my head was now turning slightly and I felt like I was about to fall.

But I was caught by Puck, who grabbed me gently and stayed next to me as I tried to get my head back in order.

"Just stay still, you might of hit something on your back." Puck said to me, looking at my back first and then me. I wasn't concerned about my back, I was more concerned about what was going on with Mike and his well being. I thought this day was going to be normal, but it was worse.

Way worse.

* * *

Both Mike and I were waiting in one of the hospital rooms, waiting to see the doctor and hear his result after being checked. After Karofsky was taken away by Figgins, Mr. Shue had Mike and myself checked in at the hospital. Our parents came in a flash, and after reassuring them over and over, they left to talk with each other and figure things out. Figgins then wanted a explanation of what happened, but Finn and Puck were there to tell him what relaly happened. Still, Mike had to talk to him as soon as he was out of the hospital.

Mike and I were laying on two cots they had set up for the both of us, since they couldn't put us in a real hospital room. I was having pain in my back, all from being slammed against metal in a harsh way. Mike was clutching his stomach slightly, his black eye was worse and his busted lip looked like it could burst. I could tell he was in some sort of pain, but he tried not to show it. It was his football side coming out, trying not to showhe was weak. All I was worried about was what happened between him and Karofsky before I got there.

"Mike, we need to talk about what happened." I said aloud, squinting as I got up from the cot. Mike looked over at me from his own cot, still slightly clutching his stomach.

"You shouldn't be moving your back." Mike said to me in a warning tone, but I waved him off and moved over to his cot, sitting on the side and next to him. He sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

"How are you felling?" I asked him in a soft tone, wanting to grab his hand or something to bring some sort or comfort, but I restrained from doing so, in fear that I might hurt him.

"Sore, and that I was hit by a truck." he replied to me, his sounded far from me, something I never got from him before. I really wanted to know what happened, and I dind't want him to lie to me and say thathe brushed past him or gave him some kind of dirty look. It was far worse than that, and that more than just glances were swapped.

"What happened Mike? Why did he do this to you?" I asked him in a quiet tone. He was quiet, looking like he didn't want to talk about it. But I had to know.

"You know how he is, Alice." He merely replied, staying quiet then.

"Yes, I know how he is. But this, "I said aloud, pointing to his lip and then his eye, "This was something else."

"You don't need to worry about it." Mike said to me, still keeping a soft tone in his voice.

"I do, Mike. I do worry, because I care about you and when I saw you laying there on the floor, bleeding, that scared me." I told him in a bolder tone of voice. Mike then looked over at me, the black eye he was harboring was making me squirm on my seat next to him.

"He said a rude comment to me when I was walking by him. I called him out, asking why he said that and he just started talking trash some more, and when I tried to walk away, he punched me." Mike explained to me in a calm tone, and I stayed quiet. I tried to put two and two together, what would he say to cause Mike to go crazy? Mike would lt things roll off the shoulder, but that must of been some remark.

"Well, what did he say?" I asked him, still pushing it. Mike was silent for a few seconds and then looked at me square in the eye.

"He said a rude comment about you." He sounded broken when it said it, like the pain he was feeling came through his mouth, staggered slightly. I looked abck down at my own hands, seeing how they were scraped up from being slammed against the locker.

"Mike." I started, but he shook his head, silencing me.

"I don't wanna say it. Let's just say that it was rude and uncalled for, even for him." he said to me in a soft tone. I nodded my head, seeing how fragil he looked from his spot on the cot. He then squinted, sitting up right as well and I could tell it was hurting him to do that simple action. We both sat there, looking at each other and no saying a word for a bit. Then, being very careful, reached out to touch the outer part of his black eyes, only to somehow feel what he was feeling.

"You didn't have to do anything about it." I said to him, seeing that somehow my hand was resting gently against his cheek and my thumb rubbing against his skin in a soothing motion. Mike shook his head, my hand going with him.

"You're my friend, Alice, and I care about you. What he said was wrong, and I couldn't..." he trailed off, looking down briefly and back in my eyes. Somehow I felt felt in his eyes, how warm they were even behind the physical pain I could see. He was still handsome to me, and thee fact that he took all of this from Karosfky, just for the sake of protecting me and defending me. No one has ever done that for me, not once. He was still staring at me, and he looked so serious.

I was about to say something, but it was instantly silenced when he moved in and kissed me right on the lips. It was firm, his lips against mine, him showing that he cared so much for me that it was hard to put in words. It was hard for me too, for the past of weeks I tried to find a way to tell him how I felt. But now he was kissing me, his hand carefully resting on my neck and I felt like I could fly higher than before. All the pain from today was gone, all of the fears of who I was disappeared, and all that mattered was that Mike was kissing me, on a cot in the hospital.

And I was kissing him back


	9. I'm Just Happy To Dance With You

I pulled away from his kiss, still almost in a daze as I found my breath again. His hand was still on my neck, not moving around or anything. It felt like I was swimming, weightless and floating.

"You just kissed me." I said in a soft tone, that sound like I was stating a fact. It was true, he just leaned in and kissed me withoutany warning. He stayed quiet, nodding his head vigoursly and a smal smile appeared on his lips.

"Yeah, yeah I did didn't I?" He asked aloud, surprise was in his voice. I smiled from his remark, seeing how he still had the child-like wonder in him after going through so much pain and a big fight.

"But I'm glad you did." I said back to him, seeing his smile widen. His black eye looked lighter then, only from seeing him smile and his eyes were warm. Without even thinking, I traced his black eye gently with my finger.

"You look good with that black eye." I said aloud in a laugh, and he laughed with me too. That mere moment of awkwardness after the kiss was long gone, and we were back to our normal selves.

"How do you feel?" He asked me, making me feel better now that we were comfortable in our current position.

"After that kiss, I feel great." I replied back to him in a laugh, but as I did I felt another sharp pain in my lower back. I squinted, the pain staying there for a moment or two.

"Not that great, from what I can see." Mike said back to me and he took away the hand on my neck, grasping my hand tightly for me to ride out of the pain. I was never one to show pain, not in sobbing that is. I just clenched my teeth tightly and still held his hand, feeling the pain dulling and finally leaving the body. I opened my eyes again, then seeing that we weren't alone. Behind Mike was the doctor and Mr. Shue. Mr. Shue himself looked worn out, his tie he usually wears was loose around his neck and some bags were under his eyes. He almost looked as bad as we did.

"How are you two doing?" The doctor asked the both of us in his gentle tone. Neither one of us said anything, because he already knew our condition and how we were feeling didn't really matter.

"I want to have my nurses look at you for a few minutes, only to make sure that you both are okay to go home. I'll also give you both some medicine for the pain, your teacher here will take you home if you're well enough." The doctor explained to the both of us, and we both nodded our heads to him. He smiled, and I saw Mr. Shue too.

* * *

Mike was given strict order to try and not do too much movement with his body, since he was bruising on his chest and his black eye was going to stay there for awhile. I knew that was going to be hard for him, since he loved to dance. And Apparently Karofsky did a good number on his left leg too, so he'll have a limp for a couple of weeks.

I, on the other hand, was going to have a sore back for about a week or two. There was some bruising on my back along my spine, and the scratches on my hands were going to be just fine. I was given pain medicine to take three times a day, or whenever I needed to.

As I sat out in the hallway, waiting for Mike to finish getting his medicine and orders from the doctor, Mr. Shue walked over to me and stood in front of me, his hands in his pockets and looking like he could use some rest.

"Alice?" he asked me, and I looked up at him, still quiet and thinking about the recent events.

"I just got off the phone with Principal Figgins." he said to me, and I nodded my head to show that I was listening. The events of that day was draining, making me a bit sleepy and out of it.

"David Karofsky was expelled." my eyes widened slightly from that news, I didn't know whether to be relieved or confused. I knew what he did was bad enough to be expelled, but I still thought he was a hazard to me, and also to Mike.

"He was?" I asked aloud, a hint of shock was still behind my tone of voice. He nodded his head, sitting down next to me on the bench. Mr. Shue then looked over at me, as I stared at the wall. Karofsky was expelled, he's gone from the school now. Should I be happy? It wasn't nice to be happy about someone who was suffering, but he made the both of us suffer along with many others.

"Principal Figgins wants to talk to both you and Mike when you go back to school." He explained to me. I knew I was going to have to tell him what happened, what I said to him to set him off.

I heard the door open and we both looked to see Mike walk about with the doctor. He looked a little better, but still out of it as I slowly got up from the bench and walked over to him. He smiled at me I instantly took his hand in mine.

"You two are free to go, just take it easy and don't do anything that would strain your back and chest." The doctor told the both of us, and we nodded our heads. I could tell we both were drained from the fight and being in the hospital for awhile. Mr. Shue offered to give us a ride home, and we agreed. I just wanted that day to be over with.

Over with and done.

* * *

The next day was hard, especially for walking around and moving my back. I felt like I wanted to crack it constantly, and when I tried the pain was unbearable. After taking a pain pill and hearing from my mom to be very careful, I went to school and got plenty of glances from everyone in the halls. It was hard to see them look at me, and I felt like millions of holes were burning into my back from the eyes that were watching my every move.

I found one small ray of hope: Mike. He was waiting for me by my locker, leaning against it and holding his backpack strap in one hand. He still looked just as bad as yesterday, except he had a smile on his face as I approached him.

"Hey." I said to him, seeing him smile at me and i felt a little better from the pain I was feeling.

"Hey." he replied to me, his tone was soft yet strong for me. It felt good to see him, though he didn't look the same, just seeing him looking at me in the same way he did earlier before he kissed me, it brought me to a warm place.

I grabbed his awaiting hand and we both walked down the hall together, having glances thrown our way and mumurs were exchanged. We were the broken few that survived Karofsky's wraith, and also in a way we were the mere reason he was expelled. None the less, with Mike limping slightly next to me and clutching my hand, I didn't care.

The Glee Club was beyond supportive. Mr. Shue gave both Mike and me strict orders not to practice the dance routines, which I knew was killing Mike on the inside. We both jsut sat out on the side, clutching each others hands and watched them practice together with two spots empty. I was glad to be back in a atmosphere that was filled with happiness and security.

"I'm glad you're okay." Rachel said to me when practice was over. I smiled at her, it was a rare moment to have a nice conversation with her, and not wanting to punch her for being so perfect.

"Thanks Rachel." I replied back to her. Finn came over as well, looking at both Mike and myself.

"Yeah, I'm glad you're okay too. I mean I knew Karofsky was a wreck, but I didn't see that coming." Finn said to the both of us. Mike looked over at me and I to him, both of us still holding hands and then looking back at him.

"Thanks Finn." Mike replied, for the both of us. Finn smiled, wrapping a arm around Rachel as Kurt and Mercedes walked over to us.

"Both Merceds and myself want to take thr both of you out tonight, to get your minds off of what's been going on lately. It's Karaoke night at the local diner downtown." Kurt explained to me, "And don't worry, I checked the facility and it is suitable for us."

"It'll be fun, the whole club is going and we can just hang out, not even worry about anything." Mercedes said to me, hope in her eyes that I would say yes. It would be nice to go out with the club and just have a good time.

"I'm down." Mike replied aloud, having me look over at him with a eyebrow rasied. He smiled at me, showing me that he wasn't going to let what happened to him bring him down completely. I smiled at him, seeing the glow that was on his face and then looking back at Mercedes.

"Same here."

* * *

How is it that I've never been here before, even growing up in Lima I have never heard of this palce. According to Kurt, no one has. It's one of those places were the popular kids would never touch, thinking it would ruin their reputation. But the place was actually so nice, secluded and filled with warmth.

It was called the Oasis, a name I thought would come from Las Vegas or something like it. There wasn't really a theme, but it looked more like a thrift store with odd things here and there. Not one chair or couch matched, but it was a good mismatch in my opinion. It was nicely dim with outdoor bulb lights along the ceiling, the sweet smell of tea and soda, along with a dance floor and a band already playing on the stage.

We got to sit at a corner booth, as the rest of the place was mostly occupied by other high school students. Most of them were from the art realm, photography club and other sorts, which was fine with us. We didn't want to look at a popular jock or cheerleader, other than the ones that were already in our club. We needed a escape, something to get our minds off of the real world.

"This is more like it." Mercedes said aloud in a grin, while we were all sitting together in the booth and looking at the other students that were in the area.

"I like this place." Mike said in a happy tone, and I smiled glad to see he was feeling better.

"Come on, let's dance." I heard Rachel say aloud, pulling Finn up with her from the booth and they both started dancing with the slow song that came on from the band. I recognized it being from Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros and their song 40 Days. It was a nice slow jam, and I saw Kurt and MErcedes get up and dance as well with the others out on the floor.

"Let's dance." I said to Mike, pulling him up with me gently from the table. He came willingly, still clutching my hand as he limped over to the middle of the floor. The lights were rather low, until when we got to the dance floor itself and the bulbs of outdoor lights were scattered, giving us some sort of mood. Mike wrapped his arms around me, and I wrapped mine around his neck gently, not wanting to much my back too much or hit him in the process.

"How are you feeling?" I asked him in a smile, feeling him smile back as we tried to dance like the regular couples on the floor. But it was hard for him since he was limping and my back was getting some sort of pain from moving. I tried to ignore the pain, wanting to dance with Mike and have a nice moment with him.

"Much better now." He replied back to me, and in return I rested my head on his shoulder and I felt his hold on me tighten a bit more. His head was close to him, having me feel him brush up against my red hair and I smiled, closing my eyes and loving this feeling with him.

_I've been sleeping for forty days and_

_Yeah, I know that I'm sleeping cause this dream's too amazing_

_She got gold doorknobs where her eyes used to be, yeah_

_One turn and I learned what it really means to see, yeah_

"You dance pretty well for a cello player." Mike said to me, making me laugh and lean back to look at him. He smiled widely at me as I poked my tongue out at him.

"Well you dance pretty well with a limp." I said to him, having him break out in laughter over the music.

"Hey be nice to me!" He said in retaliation.

"No way, you're not nice to me." I replied back to him in a laughing tone. We both kept our smiling faces towards each other. I didn't want to have the smile leave my face, and it was that moment that I was feeling very happy and very satisfied. Even with the injured back, the mere shaken memory of Karofsky, I was happy dancing with Mike. Somehow Mike took away all of my fears and troubles in a flash, with just his simple minded personality, his radiant smile, and how he looked at me.

His hands were around my waist, holding me close as I wrapped my arms around his neck, my fingers almost going in his hair and dancing on his smooth skin as he carefully kissed me on the lips. I smiled, feeling that kiss to my toes as I kissed him back carefully.

_It's the magical mystery kind_

_Must be a lie_

_Bye bye to the too good to be true kind of love_

_Oooooh I could die_

_Oooooh now, I could die_


	10. Money Can't Buy Me Love

Certain things happen in my life that make me smile, thinking about the past. When you hear a certain song, it could remind you of a dance you went to in middle school. A certain shirt makes you think of being at a park when you were a kid, wearing the same kind of shirt and getting it dirty. I love those moments, and when you get to relive them, it makes the memory that much stronger.

I was going through my closet, trying to get some things out of there only to make my parents happy. We were the type of family to give to the homeless shelter anything we weren't using anymore, and they needed more clothes this year apparently. So I was trying to get rid of some of the shirts I hardly wore, along with some extra shorts.

But as I was going through my closet, I found something poking out from behind one of my boxes. It was bright red, and looked like fabric to me, and I don't ever remember having a piece of clothing like that before. I shoved my way through the boxes and other small things, suddenly seeing what it was and then feeling like I was going through a flashback. It was a bandana, a bright red bandana that looked brand new still. I instantly knew how I got this, and whom it belonged to.

_I was about 9 years old, in the 4th grade and outside in the playground during recess. I was one of the many who surrounded a 9 year old Mike Chang who was dancing in front of us and the crowd. He was wearing the same bandana around his neck, apparently his cousin who lives in LA sent it to him for his birthday and Mike wore it ever since, thinking it would give him some kind of magic or some sort when he danced. He showed it to his class the instant he could, and being young we all swooned._

_Mike was dancing, his bandana moving around his neck in the same manner as we all cheered him on. We had no clue how he was doing the dance, or even what he was doing, all that mattered was that he was making a show, and we were buying it. It wasn't until we were called to go back into our classes, and since Mike and I were in separate classes, we all broke off and walked back to our teachers. However, I saw something on the pavement and I looked behind me, seeing it was Mike's bandana. It fell off when he was doing some sort of move, and I grabbed it instantly. _

After that I tried to find a way to give it back to him, the the bandana went to the back of my head and my closet as well. The thought of giving it to him dimmed since he went to football and I went to orchestra. So it was a mere surprise to see the bandana in the back of my closet, and pure happiness was going through me. I should give it to him, since we were now a couple and he would be so happy as to see it in his hands again, and to dance with it again.

"Do you want a present?" Mike asked me as we were at my locker, and I smiled from the thought of getting a gift from him. It was the second to last week before the holiday break, and Mr. Shue decided to have me give gifts to each other at our own little christmas party. I already had half of the club taken care of, and that day I was going to get the rest of them done, along with Mr. Shue and Miss Pilsbury.

"I don't need one." I replied back to him, seeing him tilt his head to the side in wonder.

"What do you mean you don't need one?" He asked in a joking tone, making me laugh and shrug as I moved some stuff around in my locker.

"I mean, I don't really need a present, not from you anyways." I replied back to him, seeing him smiled and ruffle his hair.

"Now that hurts. I wanna give you something for christmas and you don't want anything from me." Mike said in a fake hurt tone, and I laughed, giving him a quick kiss and grabbing a book from my locker.

"You know I don't mean it like that." I said to him in a grin, and he grabbed my hand gently in his as I leaned against my own locker. His smile, whenever I was having a good day or a bad day, made me feel so warm inside that it was a freshly baked cookie. Hooray for being so cheesy. His black eye was gone, though there was yellow and a bit of purple around it now and he can open his eye completely once again.

"I just, don't want you to spend any money on me is all." I said to him in a soft tone, but he shook his head that was against the locker.

"But I want to." He said to me in a light tone, having me smile, "You deserve to get something nice, believe me. Please?"

I shrugged not knowing what to say in order for him to get the fact that I didn't want a gift. But he smiled, falling to his knees on the school floor and clutching his hands together, a wide eyed Mike looking right up at me.

"Please please please?" He asked in the same manner as a child. I giggled, trying to hide the fact that other students were looking at us like he just broke up with me and was begging for my forgiveness. I smiled, taking both of his hands in mine and having him look directly into my eyes.

"Fine! Just get off the floor please?" I asked him in a pleading tone. He grinned, immediately wrapping his arms around my legs and hugging me like a five year old. I laughed and fell against the locker in a loud bang.

"Great, I'm dating a child. Now how will the school think of us." I said aloud in a grunt, though I tried to not laugh as Mike released me, getting up from his knees and gave me a sweet kiss on the lips.

"But I'm a pretty sexy child, don't you think?" he asked me in a grin.

"That's just wrong."

"I know, but at least I make you laugh."

* * *

I held the bag in my hands, wondering if I made the good idea or a bad idea. He would be glad to get it, but then again I would look like a idiot if I gave it to him. So I was about to step over the line. I sat in the choir room, and Mike decided for the both of us that we can exchange gift then when everyone else left.

"Hey." Mike said to me as he walked over to me with a bag that looked like the same size as mine. He sat down next to me as I looked at the bag, seeing it was gold with a white bow on the top. He looked just as nervous as I did, so I smiled and rested a hand on his knee in reassurance.

"Hey." I replied back to him and saw his natural smile again.

"I hope you like the gift I got you." I said in a light tone, Immediately handing him my bag, seeing him place the bag he was holding on the floor and taking his gift in his hands. He waited there for a moment, thinking he needed permission from me to open it. He then took out the tissue paper and unwrapped what was in it. I held my breath, hoping he would know what it was. His eyes went wide and his mouth a bit slack: I gave him back his bandana.

It was still brand new, I washed it to make it look like and ironed it too, and now he was holding it in his hands. He looked like he was witnessing something fantastic in front of his eyes as he was looking down at the fabric. I smiled, now happy from his reaction.

"You dropped this in the 4th grade, outside at recess during one of your dancing sessions." I explained to him, seeing him run his thumb over the fabric and smiling from having his prized bandana back, "You ran off when the bell rang and I grabbed it. I tried to find a good time to give it back to you, but there was never a good time. Well, not until now."

"I thought I lost this. I remember crying that day when I went home and thinking I lost this forever." Mike said aloud in a light tone, having me feel a bit of warmth from seeing his bright smile. All from getting his bandana back, and in a way it was him being reminded that he was so carefree once when he was young, all from the power of a red bandana.

I was lost in my thoughts to even feel Mike pulling me up from the chair, standing in front of me and then hugging me close. It was a fierce hug, silently telling me he was thankful I gave it back to him and that he remembered his childhood once again. I hugged him back, feeling a breath of fresh air going through and happy that he was happy.

"This is actually kind of funny." Mike said in a laugh as he pulled away and smiled widely at me. He reached down and grabbed my gift, one of his hands still holding mine and the both of us holding his bandana.

"Hopefully you'll like it." Mike said to me as I smiled at him. Gently, I reached inside and saw a small box, holding it in my hands like it was treasure. I slowly opened the box and looked inside. Everything around me was gone, and all I could see was the small bracelet that was inside the box. I know this bracelet, I had this bracelet before.

I was around 7 years old, and I got this bracelet from my older sister as a christmas gift. She made it for me herself, and I thought it was best thing in the world. It had my favorite color: yellow. The beads were all in different shapes and sizes, but none the less they were yellow and it looked so beautiful. After a couple of weeks of having the bracelet, I thought I left it at the zoo from a field trip, and I never saw it again. It devastated me, not having it anymore on my wrist.

Tears were forming in my eyes as I reached in, taking out the bracelet and feeling the beads again against my fingertips. It was one bracelet that I never took off, nor did I want to loose it.

"MIke." I could only say behind the broken tone of voice. He saved it for me, the same way I saved his bandana. All of these years of hoping we would give each other our possesions back, and now it made me really think I was glad to be with him.

"I was going to give it back to you, but your grandmother died." Mike explained to me, making me feel more tears coming down my face from the memory. My grandmother did die a week after the lost of my bracelet, and I was so sad for months after that, "I decided to wait. I didn't want to give it you when you were sad, because I don't see you as being a sad person Alice."

I sniffed, trying to hide my tears as I felt like a idiot. But I felt thumbs rubbing away my tears and I looked up at Mike, seeing him smile at me. I gave him a sweet kiss, wanting to show him that I really happy for getting my bracelet back, but mostly happy that he was the one who gave it back to me after all of these years.

HIs arm went around my waist in a protective manner as we pulled away from the kiss and we hugged again. I knew the both of us didn't have to say anything, we both said enough from our gifts to each other. As we hugged I felt a wave a of love towards him and I wouldn't want it any other way.

We both were lost souls in the past, but we saved each other. All from a bandana and a bracelet.


	11. Dear Prudence

Author's Note: This chapter I'm using three different fonts for three different people, so don't be so confused! They're singing a song so I wanna show you who sings what :)

Alice - _Italics_

Finn - Underline

Quinn - **Bold**

* * *

"I need your help." Artie said to me aloud as I approached him at the hospital. He volunteers at the hospital in the children's wing, reading them books and helping out with arts and crafts. And since it was close to christmas, the hospital decided to pay him to keep on coming to the kids and keep their spirits high. Some of the kids even had cancer, which made me sad to think about. They were so young, they needed to live.

On this day, when I came to the hospital in a huff, I seriously thought of the worst when I saw Artie in the hallway. It was on a Saturday afternoon, and there was hardly anyone at the hospital anywho.

"What happened? You okay?" I asked in a rushed tone, but he held up his hands for me to stop.

"I'm fine, really." He said to me in reassurance, having me look at him in a questioning tone.

"Then why the sudden call from you?" I asked him in a questioning tone. He motioned me to follow him and we both walked down the hall.

"I'm helping out in the children's wing with a girl named Dorothy. She just got cancer and new in the wing, so I was making sure she felt welcome. I asked her what me to sing to her, and she wanted all of the songs from the Wizard of Oz." Artie explained to me aloud as we turned into the children's wing. I saw a big bunch of kids playing with each other on the floor on a rug, with blocks, books, and crayons.

"I need your help to sing the songs. I know them, but it seems like she wants me to perform the movie." Artie said to me as he faced me directly. How was I to say no to a little girl, and Artie didn't have the heart to say no to her either. I was a sucker for kids, and even more of a sucker for little ones.

"Which one is she?" I asked him aloud, and he looked behind me pointing over to the smallest girl on her bed. She had long brown hair past her shoulders in loose curls and bright blue eyes, with real fair skin. She was reading a book on her bed, which looked like a boat compared to her tiny size. It made my heart ache, seeing how young she was and how she had cancer. It was not fair, not fair at all. I wanted to make her smile. And to pull this off we needed more than one person to pull this off. The idea came to me, having me break out into a smile.

"I know what to do."

* * *

"This makes me look fat." Brittany said aloud as she look down at the metallic dress she was wearing. Mercedes rolled her eyes as she had on her green top hat and Puck pulled on a yellow sweatshirt. I made a call to everyone who could come and help out with the play, which was everyone in the club for that matter. Finn was going to be playing the drums with me on the cello and Sam on the guitar, and Tina was going to read from the book as the rest of the club decided to act it out.

"You look fine, I look more like a school girl." Quinn said aloud as she looked at her pigtails and the blue shirt and skirt she had on.

"I think that's sexy." Sam said aloud as he grabbed the wizard's cap in his hands. I grinned, pulling out my cello and getting it in tune.

"So, we're going to be putting on a show for Dorothy, by reciting the whole movie?" Rachel asked aloud as she had one her black outfit. I nodded my head.

"It's her favorite movie, and since she just got cancer she won't be able to see it again since she starts chemo soon." I explained aloud as I was set to go on my tuning.

"I don't even remember it." Brittany said in a grumble as Artie rolled back into the room we were in to get ready.

"It'll come back to you." he said to her and then looked at the rest of us, "Okay guys, the kids are all ready to go. Thanks again for doing this."

"Sure thing, good way to get out of football practice in my opinion." Finn replied back in a light tone as they all filed out of the room. I was about to follow when I felt a pair of lips on my cheek, making me smile and turn to see Mike standing next to me. He was wearing some overalls and a fedora on his head, trying to be the scarecrow.

"You make a very convincing scarecrow." I said to him, seeing him smile at me and shrug, "Not to mention a hot one too."

"Shh, not in front of the kids." he said in a hushed tone, but I giggled and grasped his hand.

"Thanks for doing this by the way." I thanked him, but he shook his head.

"Of course, it gives me a excuse to be silly. Plus I get to hear you sing." He replied back to me, making me blush and clutch my cello a bit tighter as he kissed me.

"And why don't you sing again?" I asked him in a playful tone, but he stuck out his tongue at me in retaliation. I loved his playful banter as we started to head out with the rest of the club.

Damn him for being a sexy scarecrow.

* * *

The kids were all sitting together, facing the small stage we made of the rest of the area. Quinn and Sam were acting out the scene were Dorothy meets the scarecrow, making the kids giggle and laugh at certain parts. Sam, Finn and I were at the left side as Tina sat next to the real Dorothy, who was in the middle of the crowd in the top of her bed.

"What would you do if you had a brain?" Quinn asked Mike aloud, and Mike scratched his head. I knew that was my que, so I started playing a nice line into the song.

_Said a Scarecrow sitting on a pole_

_To a blackbird sitting on the fence_

_"Oh the lord gave me a soul,_

_but forgot to give me common sense."_

As I sang that line, Mike was moving around in a wobbly manner, making it seem like it was him who was singing instead of me. He moved around Quinn, acting it out in the process as the kids watched with hungry eyes. It was Finn's turn next as he started in on the guitar to add with my playing.

said the blackbirds, "well well well

what in thunder would you do with common sense?"

_said the scarecrow,"It would be pleasing_

_just to reason out the reason_

_of the whichness and the whyness and the whence."_

At that point Mike fell to the floor in a heap and Quinn knelt down to help him, receiving laughter from the group, especially Dorothy. Every time she laughed her brown curls bounced.

_"If I had a once of common sense..._

_I would wile away the hours_

_conferring with the flowers_

_consulting with the rain_

_And my head would be scratching_

_if my thoughts were busy hatching_

_if I only had a brain"_

Mike was dancing again at this point, trying to act like he was learning how to walk and also like he was on ice. I tried not to laugh myself as he moved so gracefully but porpusely. The kids giggled as he looked like he was going to fall.

_"I'd unravel every riddle_

_for any individ'le in trouble or in pain."_

Mike fell to the floor again this time completely, and Quinn picked him up with ease and started to sing her part in the song.

**"With the thoughts you would be thinkin'**

**you could be another Lincoln**

**If you only had a brain."**

Mike smiled when she sang, and he started to dance around the kids on the floor. The kids were excited he danced around them and through the small sea of kids.

_"Oh I, would tell you why_

_the ocean is near the shore,_

_I could think of things I've never thought before._

_And then I sit, and think some more."_

He instantly sat down on Dorothy's bed, which made her giggled like mad as Mike sat on her bed and moved his arms and chest around in his pop and lock traditional way.

"I would not be just a nothin'

With my head full of stuffin'

my heart of full of pain."

Mike took off his hat and placed it over his heart, pretending to have a broken heart and having Dorothy leaning over and kiss him on the cheek. As soon as he did this, his face lit up and she smiled at her

"I would dance and be merry,

like would be a ding-a-berry

if I only had a brain!"

He ended back up with Quinn on his knees, holding his hands out and smiling as the kids cheered for him loudly. I smiled as I finished the last note, seeing him look over at me and winking at me. I winked right back as the story continued. It was a nice time to be with kids, have them forget of their sickness and that it was killing them.

Having them forget for only a moment or two.


	12. Happiness Is A Warm Gun

As I look back I think of how much I've changed as a person, how I've grown from being the quiet orchestra student to a independent person with a voice. High school, to me at least when I was younger, seemed like it would be four years of hell. But I never thought of it being so adventurous, filled with life and happiness. And I have Mike to thank for that.

He brought out the best in me, and I know I brought out the best in him. Since I never had a relationship before, Mike and I took it real slow. But I knew what I felt for him was real, how he made me laugh and smile from his simple mind and wonderful. He wasn't just a dancer to me, he was my best friend and someone who I can run to. I wouldn't complain when we would kiss alone in the corridor or on either one of our beds at our homes, his kisses were like candy to me. He wasn't forceful, nor was he passive. Our kisses were perfect, our embraces were possessive, our feelings were real.

Things took a bit of a turn for the worst, and right before christmas to make more unbearable. I was at school when I was called to see Miss Pilsbury. It was a Friday, right before break. As I walked into the office, I saw the grave look on her face as she looked up at me, and I saw another person sitting in a chair. From the back she had black straight hair and was very still. I was very concerned now, not knowing what happened. Was it my parents? Did something happen to extended family?

"Alice, thank you for coming in." Miss PIlsbury said aloud to me, her voice was low and sounding rather sad. I stayed still at the door, and not knowing if I should move or run way. That moment was making me so scared that I was frozen.

"Did something happen?" I asked aloud, now afraid and petrified. Miss Pilsbury looked over at the person sitting at the chair, who then turned in her seat over to me. I then knew who it was: Jade Chang. She was Mike's older sister who was in college. I only met her once when I was at his house, she came into town and was very nice to me. But to see her like this, with pain in her eyes, it instantly clicked. Something happened to Mike.

"Our grandfather passed away this morning." Jade said to me in a low tone, and I felt my heart sinking. Mike spoke of his grandfather, on how much he loved him and how his grandfather liked seeing him dance. He was old fashion, but none the less he thought Mike's dancing was special.

"Mike's shut down completely, he won't talk to anyone at the hospital. All he could talk about, was you being with him." Jade said aloud to me as she got up from the chair and faced me completely, her face looking drained from crying so many tears. I could only picture Mike already in my mind, shutting out the rest of the world and giving no breath of life.

"I was hoping, and so does our parents, that you would come by the hospital and just be with him." Jade said to me with hope in her eyes. How could I say no to her, with the glint in her eyes for hope for her brother. I looked to Miss Pilsbury and I saw her nodding her head at me.

"I'll notify Principal Figgins and your 5th period teacher that you're taking a league of absence for the day." She explained to me and I saw that she was in fact looking out for me. I nodded my head at Jade, seeing a small but sad smile on her face.

* * *

I walked down the hallway with Jade and I felt my heart breaking as I saw Mike, laying on one of the benches. His parents were talking to the doctor, and some other relatives were talking to each other. But my eyes were on Mike, seeing how alone he was and how alone he looked. I wanted to rush over and hug him, wanting to take away all of the pain he was having and making him happy again. The Mike I was in a relationship, the simple minded loving Mike, he wasn't there in the hallway of the hospital, he was long gone and replaced with a Mike who was on the verge of destruction.

I remember being that bad when my own grandmother died, but I was so young. I didn't understand then, I was naive thinking someone took her away and I was never going to see her again. This was different, very different indeed. Jade and I walked over slowly to him, seeing him somewhat curled up on the bench and having his arms wrapped around himself like he was about to vomit. There were bags under his eyes, his skin was pale and sickly and his eyes were filled with sadness and grief. I had to look over at Jade for silent permission, and she nodded her head and smiled slightly at me.

Slowly I walked over to Mike, seeing his parents look over at me and smiling slightly. They knew I was here to help Mike and make him feel better. I smiled at them slightly, but focused back on Mike who was still in his own little world on the bench. When I reached him in crouched down to be at his level, as he was still staring at the wall in front of him. His smile was no longer evident, his warmth was no where to be seen, and all I saw was darkness.

"Mike." I could only say his name, since anything else wouldn't seem right in this situation. He was lost, I could see it in his posture and his face. He looked up at me, his face was still in pain. His eyes were pale, his cheeks were hollow and his look was grave. I felt like crying from seeing him like this, this was not the Mike Chang I knew and was in a relationship with.

He searched my eyes, as if I wasn't real and he was dreaming, as if the past events were a dream. But he then knew it was real, and I reached down to touch his arm that was wrapped around his chest. His skin was cold, not the warmth I knew he would harbor regularly. I wanted to bring him back, back to reality and back to warmth instead of being in the dark and away from the world.

"Come here." I said aloud, tugging at his arm and wrapped my arms around him. He instantly molded into my embrace, his arms going around me as he dug his head into my neck and shoulder. I just closed my eyes as we both got up to standing and held him close, one of my hands in his hair and the other on his back rubbing it in soothing circles. He needed to be held, and I was going to give it to him, not saying anything but just being there next to him and showing him I wasn't going to leave him.

I could tell he was trying not to cry, his tears were long gone now. What he had left was just agony, and he was holding me tightly. I rubbed his back, trying to somehow soothe him and have him relax. I saw his parents looking over at me, and I kept my eyes closed again as I breathed him in. He smelled of hospital fumes and his car, it wasn't the same as his typical Old Spice. I needed the old Mike back.

But he needed me more right now.

* * *

"It gets easier, I promise." I whispered to him as we were facing each other, laying on his bed back at his house. I still held his hands in mine between us as he looked at me, searching my eyes for the truth. After hugging him for what seemed like a century, his parents wanted to take him home and I came along. He couldn't sleep, so we both were laying on his bed and just staring at each other, not wanting to say much.

"Did it hurt this much when you lost your grandmother?" He asked me in a staggered tone. I smiled at him, rubbing his arm to soothe him.

"It did." I only replied to him, seeing him nod his head.

"I don't know what to do. I never had someone in my family die before." he said in a honest tone and I tightened my hold on him slightly.

"Well, first thing you do is eat." I told him, seeing him have a small smile on his face, "And then you try and remember all of the good things about your grandfather. All of the positive memories, everything that will make you happy instead of sad."

"He was the only one who actually liked my dancing for awhile. I mean, he was a bit old fashioned and traditional, but he thought of it more like a gift than my parents did. They got around after awhile, but he knew from the beginning, you know?" He asked me aloud, hoping I understood. I nodded my head against his pillow.

"If you think about the positive memories. that makes the pain inside ease up a bit more, but if all you think about is his death, it's gonna hurt." I said to him, making sure he knew I was serious. He nodded his head and sniffed, rubbing his eyes.

"You need to eat." I reminded him again, running some of my fingers through his hair to soothe him. But I could tell he didn't want to get up or move. It was too peaceful in our position, too warm and filled with comfort.

"I don't feel like moving." he said to me in a honest tone and I nodded my head. At this point it would be nice to have him asleep, the bags under his eyes were so evident it made me think he was sick with cancer. So after some rearranging and grabbing my iPod from my backpack that was on the floor, I placed one ear bud in my own ear and the other in Mike's ear, pressing play and seeing a small smile come on his face as his eyes started to get heavy. The song was simple, and it was truth for him to hear.

_Don't you go,_

_Away, I know,_

_Without your love,_

_I'll never find my way back home_

_'Cause you and me,_

_So happily,_

_Make all our dreams of make believe reality_

We both fell asleep on his bed, smiles were still on our faces and the worries of the world behind us. I didn't notice the blanket that was placed on us, but I knew his mother did that. I was still holding his hands, I was still resting his head against mine, and I was still going to be with him.

We needed each other after all.


	13. All You Need Is Love

The next few days were hard for Mike to go through, since he was always thinking about his grandfather. I felt him alone with his family, who reassured me if Mike needed me they would call, but I knew he needed some space. It was hard for me not to go running over to there everytime I thought of him, but I had to restrain it for his sake and mine.

THe Glee Club asked me if they could do anything to help him. I only told them to visit and try to lift his spirit, which I knew they would do easily. Mr. Shue and Miss Pilsbury were very supportive and understandable about it, and they told me to tell him that he was in their thoughts. That made me realize they were my favorite teacher, without a doubt.

Christmas came and went, and my grandparents were in town for about a week. Now the thing about my grandparents is that I love with dearly, but they never really understood how my family worked since we were practically hippies anyways. They hated how we would listen to certain music, nothing really pleased them except the fact that I was going to go to college. They got under my skin in a fast pace, and sometimes I would try to hold back my screams I would want to unleash onto them.

"How's work, James?" My grandfather asked my father as we sat down in the living room after dinner. It was a nice night, and my grandparents were already full from the dinner my mother made them, and while she was in the kitchen cleaning, my was with my grandparents and father in the living room.

"It's fine, dad. I'm getting more students to teach and they offered me a promotion as a music professor at Ohio State." my dad explained to him and I saw him nod his head.

"Sounds like fine work." my grandmother commented, trying to make it a light conversation, but we all could see my grandfather looking rather uneasy about that recent news. I stayed quiet, seeing my grandfather's unapproval looking face.

"It's good work, I get to help students who was thinking of going into a music major and career." My father said aloud, trying to keep his own voice level. He could sense my grandfather was mad about it, and I could too.

"Does it pay well?" he asked my father, who sighed and rubbed the back of his head.

"It's better than what I have now, but dad money is never a issue with us." he said, raising his voice slightly and my grandfather scoffed.

"It should be when you are providing for you, your wife and daughter." He replied back in a gruff of a voice.

"I do provide, and so does Susan with her music in the orchestra. We are doing just fine, dad." He said in a low tone, almost like a warning as my grandfather waved him off in his chair. I got up and walked out of the room, walking into the kitchen and helping my mom with the dishes. I could tell my mom didn't want to be in the same room, ever since they were married his parents really didn't think she was worth his while. I only know this because I heard my parents talk about it with each other, and my mom on the phone with her siblings.

"They're arguing again?" My mom asked aloud and I nodded my head. I knew she could hear, since we had a opening from the kitchen into the living room.

"What Susan does, it doesn't count for making a living!" My grandfather growled, and my mother's hands stilled in the sink. I looked at her with worried eyes, seeing her stare out the window in front of her with a stone cold face.

"It does to me dad, and it does to Alice." My dad countered back at him as my mother snapped out of it and washed some more dishes.

"Your daughter has a wonderful gift, but she's throwing it away from a singing club when she could be working on her music." Her grandfather argued, and I kept listening to their conversation.

"Alice is happy being Glee Club, it's bringing out the best in her." My father countered back.

"How is it helping her then? Tell me that?" My grandfather asked with sarcasm in his tone.

"She made friends, and overcame her shyness. Plus her boyfriend is in the club as well." my father explained aloud, and I heard the doorbell ringing. Footsteps were going through the room on the hardwood floor and I felt my mom's eyes looking at me.

"Honey?" She asked me, but I was feeling anger going through me from my grandfather not understanding the glee club.

"Mike! How are you doing?" my eyes went wide as I walked out of the kitchen and over to the living room. There was Mike, standing in a sweatshirt and pants and shoes, his hair messy and his eyes looking a little warmer than unusual. He looked so much better than before and I smiled, seeing him look over at me. It's been a week since the death of his grandfather, and he looked so much better than before and I was so glad to see him out of his house again.

"I'm fine, thanks Mr. Everdeene. I just came to see Alice." Mike explained to him and I walked over to him, instantly hugging him close and feeling him hug me back. It felt like we were alone again, no one else around us or near us, it was finally peaceful and right.

"I'm so glad you're okay." I said to him as I pulled away. He smiled down at me and kept holding my hand.

"I was hoping to talk to you in your bedroom." He said to me, but I heard someone clear his throat and I felt anger coming through me again. I looked, seeing wide eyes from both of my grandparents.

"And who is this?" My grandfather asked aloud, annoyance was in his voice. I clutched Mike's hand as I found my voice again, but my mom walked in and beat me to it as she dried her hands on her apron,

"This is Mike Chang, Alice's boyfriend." She said in a smile, and grandfather's grimace face was now worse.

"A young lady your age shouldn't be dating." He said in a cold tone, and the anger inside of me was growing to the point of explosion. How dare he judge me for who I was and what I would do with my life. He already lived his life, let me live mine.

"Should I leave?" Mike asked me, worry in his tone of voice and I saw my grandfather about to say yes, I knew he was going to.

"No, you can stay." I replied back to him, seeing the new glare in my grandfather's eyes.

"I can never understand you, Alice. Your attitude is not acceptable and your are not acting the way you should, let alone throwing away your music to sing in a group that may be dragging you down the same path as your father!" He said in a bark, his voice almost to the point of a scream.

"Dad, that's enough!" my dad said aloud, but I took a step forward with anger in my eyes and hate in my heart.

"You have no right to tell me what I should do with my life." I sneered at him.

"I'm your elder, you are to listen to what I have to say." He countered back at me, but I shook my head.

"You are no elder. I've heard you for the past 16 years, and frankly I am over your stupid, traditional, prejudice ideas that you've been trying to engrave into m brain for over 16 years." I said to him in a threatening tone. He was taken back from it and I saw Mike's eyes go wide. I finally stood up to my grandfather, who was making me feel lesser than myself then I should.

"James, are you going to let your daughter speak to me like that?" He asked ina roar, but I looked over to my dad, seeing if he was going to punish me at all from what I said. He knew about the situation, but it was up to him now whether to let it slide or let it go.

"Yes." He said, looking straight into my eyes, and then looking over to grandfather, "They were about to leave anyhow, weren't you Mike?"

"Yes we were." Mike said to my dad, pulling me towards the door. I walked out of the house with him, hearing my grandfather now screaming at my father and once we were a bit away from the house, Mike hugged me close and I hugged him right back. He knew my pain, and he was there to see me stand up for myself..

"You okay?" he asked me aloud, looking down at me and framing my face in his large hands. I nodded my head, seeing a small smile on his face.

"Why did you come over? You okay?" I asked him, then wondering why he was over at the house. He looked down for a second, then looking back at me with seriousness in his eyes and face.

"I wanted to thank you, for staying with me all this time when I was going through the loss." Mike explained to me, and I smiled back at him, seeing warmth in his eyes even in the darkness.

"I wouldn't of let you go through that alone. And I know you would of done the same with me." I said to him as he leaned in a bit, our foreheads barely touching and the familiar feeling of butterflies going on in my stomach. His hands were still on my face, framing me gently.

"I also wanted to tell you something, ever since we were doing that play in the hospital for the little girl I realized something." He said to me and I nodded my head, waiting for him in say what was on his mind. He looked like he was about jump into deep water, was he?

"I think I love you." he said to me in a whisper, and I felt my breath leaving me. He loves me , Mike Chang loves me! How could I ever think of anything else now that he told me he loved me.

I leaned in a kissed him with so much passion I thought I could break him. He kissed me right back and I felt my arms going around his waist to hold myself steady as we kissed on my front lawn. I pulled away from him, hearing him breathe heavily as I was doing the same as well.

"I love you too, Mike Chang." I said to him, seeing the biggest smile MIke has ever given me. He kissed me again, lifting me up from the ground and twirling me around on the lawn. All of the pain, the loss and chaos was gone in his kiss and his confession that he loved me. We both were now broken, Mike from his loss, and me from my family issues.

* * *

But how perfect we were together.

I stood in the middle of the stage, seeing the rest of the Glee Club in the seats of the theater and watching the both of us. After the big fight with my grandfather, and the big kiss we shared, MIke and I learned that Mr. Shue had the Glee club do duets. He told us, that since we were going through a lot we didn't have to do it. But Mike wanted to, and so did I. We weren't going to forget the Glee Club over our own personal problems. We both decided to do Neil Diamond's version of _Mr. Bojangles,_ a nice folk song that my parents would play a lot. It was a nice song to sing, or in Mike's case, dance to.

Mike was off to the side, smiling at me as I heard the guitar starting to play from the jazz band behind us. I smiled back at Mike, breathing in one big breath and then starting to sing.

_I knew a man, Bojangles and he danced for you_

_In worn out shoes_

_Silver hair, a ragged shirt and baggy pants_

_The old soft shoe_

_He jumped so high_

_He jumped sp high_

_Then he'd lightly touch down_

As I sang, Mike was dancing around the stage, no more of the pop and lock like he would usually do. THis time it was more fluid, more like a contemporary dance as I sang the words from my spot. Sometimes he would moved his hat around in his hands, and then moving around me.

_He said his name, Bojangles and he danced a lick_

_Across the cell_

_He grabbed his pants, a better stance_

_Oh, he jumped so high_

_Then he clicked his heels_

_He let go a laugh_

_He let go a laugh_

_Pushed back his clothes all around_

Mike started to tap dance, swaying around and using all of the stage as I kept singing. I could see all seriousness in his eyes now, all of his feelings and emotions flooding through his dance and through his body, and he was try to say what he was feeling through his dance. He was in pain, but he was going through it. He was lost, but he was found. He was alone, but he was loved. I knew I could see it, since whenever he was around me he would smile and move in a slower fashion.

_Mr. Bojangles_

_Mr. Bojangles_

_Mr. Bojangles_

_Dance_

I saw all of the Glee Club smiling at us, Rachel resting her head on Finn's shoulder and Finn having a arm around her shoulders, Mercedes and Kurt looking at each other then at us, Quinn and Sam holding hands, Brittany and Artie swaying along with the song, Puck having a small smirk on his face and Santana as well. They all knew, and they all loved us for that.

The song was simple, yet we all felt free singing the folk song. Mike and I had our own little world on the stage, and I felt like I was in love with him too.


	14. All My Loving

"Hello Dorothy." I said to Dorothy as I sat down in a chair next to her at her hospital bed. She smiled at her, some color was coming back to her pale face as there was a book in her lap. It was a early night at the hospital, and after performing for the kids I would come over every once in awhile and hang out with Dorothy, and read to her.

"Hi Alice! Wanna see what I'm reading?" she asked me in a giddy tone as she held out the book to me. I took it from her, looking at the cover and smiled.

"_Where the Wild Things Are_." I read aloud, smiling as I placed the book on my lap and smiled at her, "Did you know that this book is my absolute favorite?"

"It is? It's my older brother's favorite, he brought it today when he came to say hi and he left it for me to read." she explained in a grin.

"And how many times have you read it?" I asked her in a grin. The thing about Dorothy was that she would read the same book over and over again, it kind of reminded me of myself when I was her age.

"10 times, but I wanna read it again!" She said in a grin, but her enthusiasm made me giggled and I was about to say something else to her when one of nurses came into the big room.

"Okay kids, time to watch our movie!" She said to everyone, and I heard cheering from the other kids. Looking over at Dorothy I saw her smile widen from the mere thought of watching a movie.

"Will you come watch with me, pretty please?" She asked aloud to me, her blue eyes wide with wonder and need. I smiled, how could I say no to her?

"Of course I will." I said to her, hearing a squeal of delight from Dorothy.

THe movie we were watching was_ Up!_ from Pixar. I only saw it once with my family. The kids were all enthralled with the movie as I sat next to Dorothy in her chair, seeing how much she loved the movie already within the first half and hour. It was nice and cozy in the hospital room where we were, the lights were low and the nurses made popcorn and candy for the kids that night. It was nice to watch a kids movie with Dorothy and the rest of the sick children, being able to not think about school or my grandfather with his disapproving nature.

As the movie kept playing and I heard the children laughing, I started thinking about my future. I would want to go to college and play in the orchestra, but then again when I joined the Glee Club I started to think about what else I wanted to do. My mind was set on playing the cello, but there were other things out there to do. I then also thought of Mike, where he was going to go to school and what he was going to do. Dancing of course, at least I hope he would.

"You remind me of Ellie." Dorothy whispered to me, and I snapped back to reality to look down at her.

"I do?" I asked her aloud with surprise in my tone of voice. She nodded her head, her curls bouncing with her head,

"You have the same hair, and you're nice, like her." She said to me in her small smile and I felt a small bit of happiness soaring through me.

"Well, thank you Dorothy." I thanked her and saw her smile turn into a smirk. She looked back to the movie.

"You're welcome, Ellie."

* * *

"She called me Ellie." I said to Mike as we were laying on my bed, looking up at the glow in the dark stars on my ceiling.

"She really likes you." Mike said to me as his hand that was intertwined with mine squeezed slightly.

"Dorothy likes you too. Did you see the look on her face when you danced for her?" I asked him, moving my head around so I can look at him properly. He smiled and looked back at me. We both were on our backs on the bed with our feet dangling off and almost touching the floor. My parents were out for the night with their own little date planned, and they trusted the both of us to be home alone. Thank god for trusting parents.

"She's a sweet girl." Mike said aloud in a calm down, a small smile on his lips as I manuvered myself a bit to rest my head on his chest, still staring up at the ceiling and seeing the many stars on my ceiling. Mike wrapped his arm around my shoulder as I heard his heartbeat and breathing in a steady rhythm.

"Mike?" I asked him aloud, after the moment or two of silence between us.

"Hmm?" He said, his hold on me soft.

"What do you wanna do after we graduate?" I asked him, thinking about it myself really. He was silent for a moment or two, so I knew he was thinking about it himself.

"To be honest I have no idea." He replied to me in a light tone. I moved my head up from him and sat up, seeing him still laying on his back and one hand to move behind his hand and the other rest on my knee when I was now cross legged on my bed.

"Not even one?" I asked him, seeing him think to himself and then shake his head.

"Nope. I mean, I had one idea, but it's dumb." He said to me and I giggled.

"Well what is it?" I asked him, now wanting to know the idea. But he shook his head,

"Nah it's silly." He replied immediately. But I tilted my head and rested my hand on his that was on my kneecap. His fingers were tracing my jeans, the temperature of his fingers soaking through the fabric onto my skin making it crawl in a good way.

"Come on, please?" I asked him in a innocent tone. He smiled at me, as if he had a sneak plan he wanted to conduct. He then shot up from his spot on the bed, sitting up properly and taking my hand in his, looking down at the two hands.

"I used to want to dance professionally, you know go on tour and other stuff like that." he said to me with enthuasim in his tone of voice, such excitement like he was going to go dance. I smiled, nodded my head, but then his smile went from pure excitement to genuine.

"But then when you asked me to dance with the Glee Club, for Dorothy and other kids, it changed." he replied to me, making me smile a little wider when he mentioned the kids, "Now I wanna teach kids how to dance, anyone at any age."

"Really?" I asked in sheer joy in my tone, even though I later thought it was a dumb question to ask. Mike nodded his head, his smile never leaving.

"Just seeing their smiles and hearing them when I dance, it made me feel like I can do something worth while with this gift, I mean really worth while." Mike explained to me,"I had no idea what I was going to do before I was in the Glee Club, and before I met you."

"You're just saying that to make me feel better." I said in a matter of fact tone, and I looked down at our joined hands in the middle of the two of us. I felt him squeeze our hands and I looked back up at him. He smiled at me, reaching out to push some hair behind my ears.

"How about you? What do you wanna do?" He asked me, and I paused for a moment or two.

"I thought I wanted to play professionally, be in a orchestra and everything like that. But I don't know, when I joined Glee Club I felt like I could do more than just play my instrument. I can be a photographer, I can go traveling around the world, anything really." I explained to him, seeing his eyes never leaving mine and then a small smile coming onto my lips.

"What?" he asked, and I tried to hide a giggle.

"I was just thinking, how I had everything planned out for my future, and when we ran into each other it all went out the window." I said to him in a simple tone, seeing his eyes going wide slightly and his smile widen.

"Well, it's safe to say, that I don't want to go anywhere without you." Mike said to me in a light tone, but could tell he was serious about it. I felt like I couldn't breathe for a minute or two, my body was frozen in my spot, all from him saying that he wanted me with him after high school.

"I'm the same way." I replied back to him, seeing him scoot closer to me on my bed and having my breath go in a rapid pace then. My heart was beating faster as his lips pressed against mine and his fingers danced along my neck like he would dance on the floor. My fingers slid to his shoulder blades, holding on for dear life as we fell back onto the bed.

Slowly his kisses were addictive as I placed one of my hands on his cheek. I felt one of his hands went to my thigh and I felt excitement going through me. We've only made out a handful of times on either one of our beds, and we were fine with that really. But the way he was kissing me, the way he was holding me protectively as we kissed, as they way I was feeling something going off in my stomach, I was on cloud nine in our kisses. The bed was beneath me as he hovered above me, kissing me very softly. Mike was never a aggressive kisser, well not to me as least.

My eyes were closed and my mind was occupied with how great of a kisser he was, but when I felt his tongue touch mine oh so gently my eyes shot open and I had a intake of breath. Mike instantly broke the kiss, leaning back a bit and having shock in his eyes. WE both have never done that before, not once and it took us both by force.

"I'm sorry." Mike immediately said aloud, having fear or concern in his eyes like he did something wrong. Why would he apologize for making me feel that? I only smiled at him, my nervousness that was evident on my face was long gone.

"It's okay." I only replied back to in a soft tone, knowing that talking louder would kill the mood we were setting. He smiled as I leaned up to kiss him again. Kissing him and getting back into the rhythm was easy, and when my tongue touched his again, this time he took the move and deepened the time. That insane kiss he gave me made my toes curl as I was about to kiss him right back, but with more passion when his phone went off.

Mike groaned against my lips and pulled away, grabbing his phone that was in his pocket and then opening it, reading the text. I sat up, seeing how close I was to him as he closed the phone.

"Finn just invited the both of us to a party that one of the football players is throwing, and apparently all of the club is going except for Rachel." Mike explained to me, and voice was heavy and out of breath. I needed to find my own breath, nodding my head and fixing my hair. As much as I loved kissing Mike, I was kind of glad his phone rang to bring the both of us back to reality.

"I say we go." I said to him, seeing a wee bit of sadness in his eyes like he wanted to go back to our previous action. I giggled, leaning in to give him a quick kiss.

"There's more to come, Mike Chang." I said against his lips and he smiled, kissing me back.

"I'm looking forward to it, Alice Everdeen."


	15. She's So Heavy

We went to the party that night, seeing already a big flood of people there and already having their drinks. Christmas lights were still up on the house with a inflatable snowman that was being sucker punched by a football players, cheerleaders cheering him on. The loud techno music could be heard down the street when we pulled up in Mike's car.

"I wonder where the Glee Club is." Mike asked aloud in wonder as he took my hand and started walking with me down the sidewalk to the house.

"Probably in the backyard in a huddle." I replied back to him as Mike and I walked through the front doors. Inside was hazy, techno music blaring and lights everywhere as we were surrounded by high school kids. Who would of thought the Glee club would be at a party like this? It didn't make sense.

As we tried to go through the crowd, I only saw a handful of the Glees: Sam, Quinn, Finn, Artie, and Brittany. I kind of figured the others wouldn't of wanted to come out, since it was so out of their element. Brittany and Artie were by the couch, both already engrossed in conversation as Sam and Quinn were talking to some of the other football players.

"Hey Mike! Come on over!" I heard one of the football players say aloud. Mike gave me a kiss and told me he'll come back. I watched him go over to his friends as I went to Brittany and Artie. They both looked up at me, and they both smiled.

"Hey, I didn't know you were coming." Artie said aloud to me over the music.

"Neither did I, but apparently Finn invited us over." I replied back to Artie.

"He invited me too, along with Brittany claiming that some of the football players were telling her lies." Artie explained to me, and I smiled, looking over at Brittany who looked so confused about something.

"They told me my dog can walk on it's two back legs, and speak latin." She said aloud as she was staring off into space. Both Artie and myself gave her confused look, but it was normal for her to say something like that every once in awhile.

"How dare they." I said in a low tone and a smirk, seeing Artie smile from my reaction as Brittany finally looked over to me and smiled.

"I believed them for a second, but Artie told me the truth. I'm glad Artie looks out for me." Brittany said aloud in a brighter tone of voice, and I saw her grasp his hand that was on his lap. I smiled, looking over at Artie and giving him a big wink. He stuck his tongue back out at me. Being that room, even in the house itself was making my head spin and I blinked a few times trying to get my head together.

"I'm going outside, I need air." I said to the both of them and they nodded their heads. I was there for only a few minutes and I was already congested as I fought my way back out into the cool crisp air of the outdoors. There were about a few people out there, and the last person I saw out there was Puck who was holding his beer cup in his hand and facing the street with his back to the house. I walked over there, thinking it would be nice to talk to him and see how he was doing. He and I never really talked on regularly, but when we did it was alright.

"Needed air too?" I asked him as I playfully shoved him. He looked over at me with confusion, but when he saw me he smirk and shrugged.

"You could say that, plus the beer was running out." Puck replied to me, he then pointing to the red cup he was holding to silently ask if I wanted a drink.

"No thanks, I don't drink." I replied back to him, seeing a raised eyebrow from him.

"You're the first person that has refused a drink at this party, other than Artie of course." Puck replied to me in a matter of fact tone. I shrugged as I shoved my hands in my pockets.

"What can I say? I'm odd." I replied back to him, hearing him laugh slightly as he took a drink from his cup.

"You know others would find you a weirdo." he said to me in a low tone, but I only gave him a look as if I did not care.

"I've been labeled so many things since I was in middle school, names don't defy me." I replied back to him.

"Let me guess, action does?" Puck asked me.

"How's you guess?" I asked back playfully, and we both laughed. At least we both thought of it as a laugh, up until I heard the sounds of people talking going silent. We both looked back behind us, and low and behind on the front lawn of the house was David Karofsky. MY smile was gone, and my fear rose as everyone around him was quiet. I could see that he was drunk, very drunk as he was laughing all by himself. Instantly, I saw flashbacks in my head of him throwing me up against the lockers and punching Mike. The last time I saw him was that day, and I never wanted to see him again.

"Why did ev'one stop?" David asked, having plastered smile on his face and I saw him clench something in his hand. But everyone around him was watching him, scared for what he was going to do next. He looked around, as if he was dreaming and was still laughing a bit.

"Don't stop party'ng because of me." he slurred out, then looking over at me and his smile dropped slightly. He was about a good thirty feet away from me, and Puck looked over at me with concern in his eyes. However my eyes were on him the entire time, wondering if he was going to do anything to me.

"Oh look who it is, it's Alice." He said in a mixture of a slur and a laugh. He took a step towards me and I felt like I needed to move back. Where was Mike when I needed him?

"Did you ever come back to Wonderland?" He asked, then giggling like a mad man. I then saw what was in his hand, the relfection coming off the christmas lights of the house gave it away: A knife. Karofsky was holding a knife in his hand, drunk, and he was coming towards me.

"Dave, calm down dude." One of the football players said in a calm tone, walking over to him and I knew he was trying to get the knife away from him. But Karofsky was faster, swinging it in the boy's direction and the boy literally jumped back.

"Back off, dude!" he said in a demanding slurring manner and the boy held up his hands to show he wasn't going to do anything. Dave smiled, looking back to me as he took another step towards me.

"This girl here, she got me expelled from school. I can't play football anymore.."He slurred out, waving his knife like it was a pencil and the people around him moving away from him as he got closer to me. Puck grabbed my arm and tried to get me to back up.

"All because I messed up her boyfr'nd's pretty face, t'snot like I was goin' to harm him too muuch." He joked, aiming the knife at me and Puck immediately pushed me behind him as Dave was about to run into Puck. He stopped, staggering a bit and looking cold at Puck, who kept his ground and kept me behind him.

"Geta way, Puckerman." He said in a low tone, the alcohol lingering on his breath.

"You need to back off, Karofsky." Puck replied back to him, but Dave shook his head violently.

"No, No I gotta talk to her." He said as he pointed the knife at me and I cringed.

"You don't need to say anything to Alice, you need to leave her and the rest of us alone." Puck replied back in a cold tone, his voice rising up a bit more than Dave.

"I don't have a bone to pick with you." He said in a low tone, and I knew this time he was going to try and make a move on Puck. There was even a bigger crowd, now that the kids that were in the house now knew what was going on. I searched the crowd for Mike, hoping and wondering where he is. Thank God for Sam, seeing him look over at me and then pushing his way through the crowd back into the house, hopefully getting Mike.

"You do when it comes to my friends. You are drunk, Karofsky, and you need to go home." Puck said in a stern tone of voice, and voice I never heard him use before. I looked at him then back at Karofsky to see what he was going to do. He still had a glassy look over his eyes from the alcohol, but then he looked so angry as he stared at the floor, clutching the knife in his hand in a vice grip. Everyone and everything was silent then, no one moved nor made a sound.

I then saw him, going through the crowd following Sam and into the small circle that was made by the students who circled us in. Mike had pure concern in his eyes, as he stood by Sam knowing he couldn't do anything. But I was already thinking I had to get to him, I needed to be near him because I felt safe.

Karofsky looked over his shoulder at Mike, noticing I was looking at him. I instantly knew that was my only time to get over to him, so I ran around Puck before he could catch me and ran towards Mike. I had to be near him and away from Karofsky. Mike would make him disappear in a flash, he had to.

But before I could reach him, I felt the knife tearing into my stomach as I froze in my spot. Everyone around me gasped as I looked down, seeing the handle of the knife sticking out of my right side of my stomach, blood going down my leg onto the floor and my breath leaving me. The pain was tearing like fire through me, and I felt my mouth open for me to call someone, anyone. But nothing came out as I heard a scream, Brittany screaming.

Then I blacked out, after being stabbed by Dave Karofsky.


	16. A Day In The Life

I had a dream that I was playing my cello on a empty stage, and the backround behind me was of the sky with clouds. The music I was playing was from Up!, a nice little cello solo as I saw myself from another point of view, like I was in the audience watching myself. I was happy on stage, almost like a glow was around me as I played, but then suddenly I woke up.

I woke up in a hospital, hearing voices in my head of my parents, then the doctor. My eyes were hurting from the brightness of the lights above me, my left arm was numb completely and my toes were warm from the socks I was wearing. But I then felt something odd on my stomach, stitching against my skin. Then it hits me: I was stabbed.

I blink a few times to be able to see right, as I felt a hand holding mine on my left side. Everything is still blurry as I tried to figure out who was there with me. My head was so heavy as I moved it to the left, seeing it was my father. He was staring right at me, bags under his eyes and the look of pain. I felt like sobbing, seeing him like that in front of me, and He smiled as I looked at him.

"Hey sweetie." he said to me in a broken tone. I smiled at him, the muscles in my mouth were sore from being so still for a long time. I was glad to see my father, but not so glad as to see him with sorrow and guilt in his eyes.

"Hey dad." I replied back, my throat was so dry I sounded like a man. He squeezed my hand and rang his fingers through my hair with his spare hand.

"How do you feel?" He asked me, his fingers dancing through my hair to calm me down as I blinked a few more times.

"Sore, real sore." I replied back to him, moving a bit and feeling the stitches move around on my stomach, shooting pain up my chest and into my head. I squinted from the pain, almost like the knife was tearing into my stomach all over again as my dad kept holding my hand through the pain.

"The doctor doesn't want you to move around too much. The stab did some serious damage to the point of the doctor not wanting you to walk for a month or two." My dad explained to me, making me stare at him with a bit of shock. Was it that bad of a stab in my stomach? I had no idea anyways, since the incident was so hazy in my head.

"Do you remember what happened to you?" My dad asked me, seeing the confusion on my face as I tried to piece the puzzle together mentally.

"I remember Karofsky was at the party, really drunk. He...had a knife and he was aiming it at me...but Puck that there...and then I remember I was falling and everyone was screaming." I said aloud slowly, seeing it all in my head again.

"He stabbed you, Alice." My looked up at my father when he said that, his voice was very grave and on the point of tears. I took in a deep breath, feeling the pain as I did and bit my lip.

"How long have I been asleep?" I asked in a grave tone.

"A day in a half. Your mom and I took shifts in sitting here with you." My dad explained, but something moved out of the corner of my eye to my right and I looked seeing Mike asleep on a cot. He was curled up, but in a position to have his face facing me, as if he was waiting for me to wake up. Was he? He looked so tired, even while he was asleep on the cot with a blanket over his body.

"He came with you to the hospital and we tried many times for him to go home, but he wouldn't budge a bit. His mom had to drag him out of the hospital to change and shower, since he had blood on his hands." I cringed from his explanation, knowing for a fact that was blood on his hands and clothes were mine. WHich meant he was holding my hand the whole time.

"He's been asleep for about two hours, since I reassured him I would wake him when you woke up." He said to me, but I could tell he wanted to talk to me without Mike being in the picture for a moment or two. My father was never selfish, but I knew when it came to me being the hospital, he wanted me and no one else could have me for mere minutes.

"Your grandfather called, while you were being stitched up." I looked down when he talked about my grandfather then, still feeling hate towards the man. But my father cleared his throat and I looked up at him.

"He paid for this hospital room, and for all of the nights you'll be in here until you can be discharged." I felt a sting of guilt going through me as my father told me this information. I felt like a idiot, having hatred towards him when he was helping me all this time.

"Honey, I know the two of your never got along, believe me I grew up with him as a father. But you need to understand that he loves you, and he will never stop loving you. He just shows it differently." My dad explained to me in a serious tone of voice, and I only nodded my head. I knew he was telling the truth, and I knew my grandfather did love me beyond words or actions. I was about to say something when I saw Mike waking up from the cot. My dad looked behind him and saw him as well, looking back at me and kissing my hand in his.

"I'll leave the two of you alone, I need to talk to the doctor anyways." He said to me, getting up and stretching as he walked out of the room. I smiled, watching my father leave as Mike was rubbing his eyes, still not knowing I was awake as well. I stayed back in my bed, running my fingers through my hair as I suddenly then wanted to see my stitching. Slowly I lifted my blankets and then moved my gown out of the way.

There was a rather large gauze over the area, almost the size of both of my hands side by side, sitting nicely and taped down on my lower stomach. In the middle it was crimson red, indicating my stitches already bursted open somehow. I couldn't feel it though, but I was still registering the fact that I was stabbed at a party. It seemed like a dream more than reality, something that seemed so simple to fix with a blink of my eyes or a snap of my fingers. But no, not this time.

"Alice." I looked up at the sound of my name. Mike stood by my feet, very still and looking like he just saw a ghost. His face was of shock, like he was expecting me to be dead rather than alive. I smiled at him weakly, thinking that was the best thing to do that the moment. But I then felt a wave of relief, seeing Mike finally after what happened to me.

At first he stood still, but within seconds he was at my side by the bed, hugging me gently and I hugged him back, feeling sobs coming through me as he held me. My tears were falling now, only falling because I was so glad to see him and so happy he was there with me then. My stomach was in pain, but at that point I had no care or worry about, my concern was of the boy in my arms who was holding me close like I was going to die soon.

He pulled back slightly only to kiss me, his kiss was hard and still, and I knew he was just so glad I was alive and awake. More tears fell through the kiss as he framed my face in his hands, tears going down his fingers onto his hands as he pulled away.

"I thought of the worst." He said to me in a even more broken tone than my father. My heart ached for him, wondering how he was still in once piece after what happened to me.

"Mike, what happened after I passed out? I don't remember a thing." I asked him in a more pleading tone than ever.

"After you fell, Brittany screamed," I knew that, since I remembered her scream going off in my head, "And Puck threw Karofsky to the ground. I got to you and stayed with you when Sam called the police and ambulance, and I stayed with you all the way to the hospital."

"Yeah that's what my dad told me." i said to him in a sigh as I looked down at my stomach again, seeing more red coming through from my gauze.

"He told you about being in a wheelchair for awhile huh?" Mike asked me aloud as he pulled over a chair. I nodded my head, now that thought was flooding my head. I knew being in a wheelchair wasn't going to be bad at all, Artie could help me out in that. But it was the fact on how I got in the wheelchair, it was still scary to think about.

"What happened to Karofsky?" I asked him after being silent. he looked down at his lap, and I knew then he wanted to avoid talking about him.

"Mike." I said his name only once, seeing him look back up at me, searching my eyes to see if he really wanted to talk to me about it. But I kept staring at him, showing that I had to know what happened to him. I thought he was gone at a time, but the fact that he stabbed me in the stomach showed that he could come back.

"He was arrested and taken into custody. Your dad told me that he's not allowed to come anywhere near you ever again." Mike explained to me as i stared at him, feeling much better know that he was going to be far away from me.

"The glee club was asking about you today at school. My mom made me go to school yesterday, just for glee club to tell them what was going on." Mike said to me in a bit of a lighter tone, and I smiled thinking about it. I did miss the club and I wanted to see them, only seeing a handful of them at the party. After I thought about it, I looked at Mike and I could see he was still tired and his eyes were dark.

"How much sleep have you gotten?" I asked him running my fingers through his jet black hair. He sighed, and when my wrist was close to his lips he kissed it tenderly. That mere action made my heart skip a beat.

"I'm no tired." he said in a light tone, having me giggle from his remark like a child being told what to do.

"As you can see, I'm not going anywhere at this point, so it's very safe to say that you can go back to sleep." I told him in a light tone. He nodded his head, and I think I knew he wasn't in the mood to argue with me, neither was I. We were both beyond arguing with each other, and since I was stabbed I needed to take a breather as well.

Mike pulled the cot over so that he would sleep right next to me, and we both fell back into the dreamland, and I could see myself this time holding a bunch of balloons, like Carl from Up, and floating away into the sky with a big smile on my face.

Even though I was stabbed, even though I was in the hospital, I was happy, and everything was going to be alright.


	17. Black Bird

The doctor told me 6 weeks, 6 weeks in being in a chair and not moving my legs since the knife went into my lower stomach and could of permanently damaged my legs. So he didn't want to take a risk at all with me, and after persuading Mike to go to school instead of staying with me for the day, I got more rest in and more time to be with my parents. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy his company, I loved it when Mike would stay with me. I just didn't want him to forget everything else in his life.

Moving from the hospital bed to the wheelchair was pretty hard, since every time I moved I would feel the stitches about to burst once again. But Artie would come over after Glee Club and help me out with wheelchair 101. Most of it was easy, it was only the getting used to moving my arms around constantly and trying not to get tired fast was hard. Artie was a big help. showing me how to strengthen my arms and how to maneuver around faster. Thank goodness for a friend in a wheelchair, even though that sounded horrible.

One of the days I was in the hospital Dorothy came over to visit me. I was in my hospital bed and was talking to Mike in the late afternoon when I heard a knock at my door. We both looked over and saw Dorothy, holding the hand of a nurse who smiled at me. I smiled widely at Dorothy, seeing that she got a little paler and her hair was thinning out. That showed me that her cancer was winning in the battle she was in, and as she stood there clutching a nurses hand in one hand and a book in the other hand, I tried not to cry. I only suffered a stab to my stomach, but she was going to suffer for as long as she could to win the fight.

"Dorothy here wanted to come and saw hello, didn't you dear?" The nurse asked Dorothy, looking down at her and smiling. Dorothy nodded her head and she immediately walked over to me, looked at me from the side of the bed. Her chin rested on the top of the bed and she tilted her head to me. I could see she was sad to see me in the hospital other than to see her.

"What happened to you, Ellie?" Dorothy asked me, making my heart flutter when she called me by my nickname. I felt Mike squeeze my hand on the other side of the bed, showing that he was there as well.

"Well, I got hurt on my tummy. I cant walk for awhile until the doctor thinks that I'm all better." I explained to her, seeing her then look at my stomach to see that I was telling the truth.

"We watched a movie last night, and the nurse said that you were going to come, but you never came." Dorothy said with some sadness in her voice. I smiled weakly at her nodding my head and she looked back up at me and rested her hands under her chin on the bed.

"I know, I'm sorry I couldn't come in and watch it with you." I replied back to her, seeing her keep her eyes on me. They weren't as bright as they were before, and I felt a sudden urge of hate towards the cancer that was doing this to her.

"I brought a book for you to read to me, will you read it to me please?" she asked, such hope was in her voice as she reached down to the floor and brought up her book. I looked at the cover, seeing the familiar four characters and the black writing along the top of it.

"_The Wizard Of Oz_. As I recall, this is your favorite." I said to her, seeing a small smile on her face. Finally, some warmth came on her face once again. I then patted on the space I had on my right, next to Mike and smiled at her.

"Well, I can't read it to you when you're not sitting next to me, now can I?" I asked her, seeing a big grin on her face as she ran around the bed in a hurry. When she got to my right side, Mike instantly lifted her up and placed her on the bed with me, which was easy since she was so tiny she fitting right on the bed without me shifting too much for her to squeeze in. She leaned up against me as I looked over at the nurse, who just shrugged.

"I'll come back in a half hour." She replied to me, walking out of the room and closing the door silently. I looked back at Dorothy, her hair tickling my chin as I opened the book in front of the both of us. I saw Mike moving out of the way, but Dorothy looked over at him.

"Please stay and read with us, Scarecrow." She said to him, her eyes big and filled with sadness that he was going to leave. I smiled, now hearing his nickname from her as I looked over at Mike. He smiled at her, coming back over to the both of us and sitting back down in his chair. Dorothy looked back over at me now.

"You can start now." She said in a informative voice. I laughed a little bit and cleared my throat, feeling Dorothy next to me rearranging herself as I started to read.

_" ' Dorothy lived in the mist of the great Kanas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife...' "_

_

* * *

_

My father opened the front door for me as I rolled through and into the living room in my wheelchair. I was in the hospital for a solid week, and after multiple tests, the doctors gave me the okay to go home in my wheelchair. The house was peaceful and very quiet, giving me the opportunity to hear the house breathe. The chime outside the kitchen window was giving me peace as I saw how the house was tinted with orange from the sunset. I said nothing as my father turned on a light or two, I felt like I should say nothing at all. How can I got back to reality when something like that happened to me? It still felt like I was dreaming, and all I had to so was wake up

Mike came over later that night, keeping me company but it as later ruined when I got a call from the hospital. Dorothy died in her sleep that afternoon when she was resting, and the only sound heard in my room was of the phone falling to the floor. Everything I thought, everything I knew about her, was now stabbing me in the stomach over and over again.

Mike held me on my bed as I cried into his chest. He knew my pain, he knew Dorothy. But he wasn't crying himself, only holding me close and kissing my hair and stroking my skin. I was against his chest, since he didn't want to touch my stomach and do any more damage.

it wasn't fair that she died, she was too young. Dorothy had a life to live, going to school and being a young woman. For a moment or two I wished I was in her place instead, wanting to be dead and not deal with the pain of my life and. But then again, I wouldn't be in Glee Club, where I had most of my happiness and joy, and I wouldn't be with Mike. Oh Mike. I don't deserve him, not after all that he did for me.

As he held me, Mike rubbed my arm and lower back with his hands, trying to soothe me as my iPod was playing Mumford and Sons softly in the room. I didn't want to move, nor did I want to say a single word. All I wanted to do, was breathe. Breathe and live, for Dorothy's sake.

_Cold is the water_

_It freezes your already cold mind_

_Already cold, cold mind_

_And death is at your doorstep_

_And it will steal your innocence_

_But it will not steal your substance_

_But you are not alone in this_

_And you are not alone in this_

_As brothers we will stand and we'll hold your hand_

_Hold your hand_

* * *

School days were blurring together, every period was more like a haze as I wheeled around the school, seeing so many eyes on me it was like I came back for the dead, or even dead. I looked like it, being in a wheelchair was bad enough. My face was drained from any emotions, no make up and no sense of life in me as I went from class to class, from one Glee Club to another.

I knew they were concerned for me, and I knew they wanted to try and help me. But Mike told them to leave me be, that I had to grieve and do this on my own. Mr. Shue and Miss Pilsbury were very much concerned for me, almost like they were my own parents, but who were they to understand what happened to me. They didn't get stabbed in the stomach, nor did they loose a friend who was so young it was sickening to think of. Not only did I feel grief, I felt anger, fury, and pain going through my system.

I attended Dorothy's funeral a week after she passed, her parents asked me to attend along with Mike. He sat by my side throughout the service and held my hand, saying nothing as we heard the pastor talk about heaven, and how Dorothy was there reading her books and holding balloons in her hand. I had no more tears to shed for Dorothy, they were already gone from my body when Mike held me close that night after the call, I was drained and empty.

After the service, Mike was wheeling me out to my dad's car when we saw a familiar face. Puck was standing by the parking lot, Mr. Shue was behind them. They both were dressed in their formal attire, and I knew instantly they came to the service. MIke stopped pushing me as I stared at the both of them with a hint of disbelief and shock on my face. Puck, with his hands shoved in his pockets, walked over to me with a sad face on him. I never saw him as a person to be sad, only angry and trying to catch a girl's eye. But this time, he was purely sad as was Mr. She who stayed still in his spot. Mike stayed behind me, his hand reaching out to land on my shoulder to show he was there for me. I grasped his hand, trying to show this was reality and I wasn't dreaming.

Just seeing Puck made me want to cry, just seeing his face that should in itself that he cared and he was concerned, it made me want to break down. He stood right in front of me, and I looked up at him and saw him squat down to my level. The sight of his face in front of me, and how he slowly reached forward and took my free hand in his, it made cry. Tears were now forming and rolling down my cheeks, and I felt like I was going to cry an entire ocean.

Puck wrapped his arms around me and hugged me close as I cried into his shoulder, unleashing all of the pain, all of the depression, and all of the sadness I was haboring the past two weeks. Dorothy's death, Karofksy stabbing me, it was too much to just put on a face and act like I was a zombie. Those days at school, I was about to explode. And there I was, exploding into Puck's chest as he held me outside of a church.

Nothing was making sense anymore, and I had no idea where I was going to do next.

* * *

songs I used for this chapter:

Mumford and Sons = Timshel

Barcelona = Please Don't Go


	18. Don't Ever Change

Two weeks went by after my scene at the church, crying in Puck's arms like a child. He understood, somehow he did. Mr. Shue and Mike did as well, and as I cried in his chest, I no longer felt alone. And after Mike took me home, I was left to fall asleep on my bed and throughout the weekend.

I went back to school in a bit of a better mood, even though I was still getting stares from the kids in school because of my wheelchair. My grades never slipped, so I was still on track when it came to my academics. When it came to my cello, my music teacher showed me how to prop the it onto my foot rests so I can still play if I wanted it, though every once in awhile I would get pain in my stomach.

The dance was coming up soon, something I really wasn't looking forward too since I was going to be in a wheelchair for it. It wasn't that I didn't want to go, I really did want to go with Mike. It was only the fact that I would be in a wheelchair, not the prom that I was imagining in my head ever since I got into high school.

Mike tried to keep my spirits up, and bless him for putting up with me and my sadness. He never wanted to see me sad, and with his simple smiles and gentle touches, I was smiling back in return. He even fooled me when he took me out one night as a surprise, having me dress in somewhat of a decent attire. As we drove he held onto my hand, his other on the steering wheel.

He picked me up from the passenger seat and placed me in my chair, rolling me away from the parking lot and into one of the nicer parks of Lima. I smiled, seeing how the trees were lit for the spring season already and how other couples were already walking around along the paths and near the trees. I breathed in the sweet air, how it was filled with flowers and the moist grass.

"And what, may I ask, are we doing here?" I asked him as we got to a certain grassy area, Mike parking me on a little hill and placing the brakes on my chair. We were right in front of a big oak tree, the lights on the branches were blinking on their own accord and the leaves were swaying in the wind. He then took out a blanket from the backpack that was attached to my chair, then my camera and a smaller bag. Mike walked over to me, swiftly picked me up in his arms, his one arm under my knees and the other around my back as I giggled, placing my arms around his neck to support myself.

"I wanted a nice night out with you, no distractions, no one else. Just you and me," He replied to me as he gently placed me on the blanket he set up. I smiled, sitting on the warm wool blanket as he sat down behind me, having me automatically lean back against his chest and his arms going around my front, his hands on my lower stomach and drumming a gentle rhythm.

"This is nice." I murmured, hearing him hum in agreement and kiss my head as I closed my eyes, then feeling a good sense of comfort and peace with him holding me and me being out of the house.

"You planned this for a long time didn't you?" I asked him in a playful way, he shrugged behind me and I laughed. Leaning back slightly I poked his side and he smiled, making me grin even bigger as I looked back out in front of me, seeing the park in front of us.

"I was going to bring you here sooner. I love this place." Mike explained to me, rubbing my arms with his hands and leaning his head against mine as he talked, I hummed showing I was hearing what he was saying.

"I never took you as a nature guy." I said in a teasing tone, and he pinched my good side of my stomach, making me squirm and giggle.

"Hey, easy now. I don't want you to split open another set of stitches." Mike said in a warning tone, but I smacked his arm in retaliation.

"I can take a little pain." I replied back to him, hearing him chuckle from behind me. We were silent again, and I looked up at the blinking lights above us in the tree we were under. Being in this position with Mike was soothing me, having me think of what was going on in my life, who I gained an lost, and what I went through. Hell, that was all I could think of.

"I don't deserve you." I replied aloud, seeing his hands on my arms still for a moment, until he kept going with his motions on my arms.

"That's interesting, because I don't think I deserve you to be quite honest." Mike said to me in a more serious tone. I moved up and away from him slightly, looked behind me at him and see how serious he was in his face and eyes.

"Mike, I put you through hell from all that happened to me. I don't deserve someone as great as you. You should of never went through that with me." I explained to him, seeing his eyes on me the whole time and nothing changing on his face. He shook his head from my reaction.

"I'm glad I went through it." That part of his explanation baffled me, how could he be glad to go through what I was going through?

"Alice, I never felt this way about a person before, to be quite honest. Tina is the only other girl I have been with, but I felt nothing as real and as deep when I was with her as what I'm feeling with you, if that sounds cheesy enough. But it's true, I'm glad I was there to hold your hand, to hug you into my chest and never let you go, and to kiss away every tear on your face." Mike explained to me, reaching up and resting the palm on his hand on my cheek. I felt his thumb brushing against my cheek in a soothing rhythm.

"You did not deserve any kind of that pain, what Karofsky did to you, and how we lost Dorothy, but I know you, Alice. You're so strong." Mike explained to me, scooting in a bit more almost where his head was going to touch mine, his voice dropping to a soft tone, "I never saw myself as being as strong and as wonderful as you are. Which is why I don't think I deserve you."

Mike and I had our moments in our relationship where we would wonder why we got to that very spot, wondering how we took that chanced and kissed in the hospital, or how he took the leap and took me out on a date. What if it never happened? Would we both be miserable with our own clique-driven lives? I know I would of been, no new friends and no new thoughts about my life. But that moment in the park in the early evening, that had all of my thoughts and worries about us as a couple thrown out of the window and my thoughts now on Mike and his doubts. All that time I was worried about me, and never about him.

"You are strong, Mike. You defended me countless times, and you take away my doubts and worries from every kiss." I explained to him in a soft tone, then kissing him cheek softly and feeling him shiver slightly from the contact. I rested my forehead against his, breathing him in as I felt a hand go on my lower back. Our shoes touched together slightly in front of us on the blanket, and the lights above us in the trees blinking from the gentle wind brushing through the trees.

"I love you, and I don't want to be anywhere without you, or with anyone other than you, or doing anything else except with you." I said to him, seeing a small smile on his lips. He then leaned up and pressed a soft kiss on my lips, the kind of kiss that was of reassurance and of pure love we would share from time to time.

"I love you too." He said against my lips, making my chest burst for the first time in a positive way in weeks. We pulled away form each other slightly to have myself resting against his chest once more and his arms around me once again. It was still warm slightly that night, and I was glad to be there with Mike and no one else.

"So, what are we going to do about the prom?" I asked Mike aloud, feeling his hands rubbing my arms once again, almost putting me asleep on how soft and nice it was.

"I have a idea." He replied back to me, making me laugh from his tone of voice, almost like he was a mad scientist about to conduct a experiment.

"Should I be afraid?" I asked him, feeling his lips go from my hair down to my jaw, making me loose my concentration slightly and my breath leaving me.

"Very." he replied against my skin, kissing my jaw and moving to my neck.

Oh boy...

* * *

"Come on dear, you look gorgeous!" My dad said aloud as I wheeled myself out from my room and into the hallway, seeing both my mom and dad with cameras out ready for pictures.

It was the night of prom, and Mike and I were going to meet with the other Glee Club members there, later going out on our own after putting up with the dance for a hour or two. And since my stitches were about to come off, I decided to stay in the chair for that night just to be safe, and to follow doctor's orders.

I was wearing 1940's dress, a deep red with the shoulders covered and coming down to my knees where I wore black 1940's heels. My hair was styled in the 1940's as well, a nice tint of red was showing from the lights and my makeup was in the same decade. Mike and I decided to dress like this, only because me being the dresses that the girls wore in our generation would be so uncomfortable.

"Oh honey, you look so beautiful!" My said to me as she took one picture of me when I was close enough. I smiled at the picture, not wanting to mess with her and her motives as My dad took one as well. I was getting rather nervous, wondering where Mike was and if he was going to come soon.

"I need to send these to your grandparents, all three of them." My said in glee as she took another picture of me. I then heard the doorbell ring and my dad went to open the front door. I looked down at my dress only to see if I was okay looking. By that time I was already petrified about being in a dress and going to prom in a wheelchair.

Looking up I saw Mike standing there in front of me with my corsage in his hands. He smiled widely at me in his formal tux, a skinny tie and nice shoes. Of all the times I saw him dressed up for either a Glee Club gig, or just for kicks, he looked so handsome in front of me there, and I saw for the first time his hair was slicked back with gel. He did look like he came out of the 1940's from a nice dance or dinner, and I smiled widely at him.

"You look beautiful, Alice." Mike said to me as he walked over to me, and I felt myself blushing in my cheeks. But it was so hard for me to be sitting and not reaching up to hug him on my own. So I decided to grab hold of both of my arm rests, lifting myself up in the process.

Mike instantly took me by the hands and held me up as I stood up completely in front of him. It felt better only looking up at him slightly instead of entirely. His arms went around me instantly and I giggled, feeling like I could walk on the moon then from getting up from the chair.

"Let's take a few pictures, and you kids can be on your way." My mom said aloud, breaking my trance in Mike's eyes. He helped me maneuver myself over their move and we stayed close, having my parents take pictures, and for one of them I felt his lips in my hair, another was of me kissing his cheek.

It was a nice night to begin with.

* * *

The dance itself was held in the GYM, since there was no where else the school can go that night. But I didn't mind, neither did the rest of the school population. Mike and I met up with the rest of the Glee Club, and after hearing them swoon over Mike and I looking like a couple from back in the day, Brittany's comment made me smile widely.

"You look like the girl from the Pearl Harbor commercial!'

There was mostly loud music playing in the GYM, and the Glee Club stayed to ourselves by the side near the tables. I parked by Artie, who was having a good times himself talking and singing along with Brittany. Mike stayed with me, as we watched some of our friends go out to dance in a silly manner. Kurt was Mercedes's date, so he was dancing out there with her and they both were in their own little world. It was nice to have a good time with them, getting out of my rut and dark time.

I then saw Mr. Shue walk over to us as a mellow song came on in the GYM. Mike was talking to Finn and Sam as Mr. Shue sat down with me, smiling as he rearranged his tie he was wearing.

"How are you, Alice? You look like you're having a good time here." Mr. Shue said aloud in a happy tone. I nodded my head, rearranging my legs on the footrests.

"I am, actually. It's nice to be out of the house for once in weeks." I replied back to him over the music. He nodded his own head and placed his hands in his lap while sitting in the chair.

"I'm glad to see you're doing better." He said to me, and I could tell he wanted to say more but was afraid that he was going to hit a nerve with me. I smiled at him, showing that I was over it naturally.

"Thank you, for being there for me with the Glee Club. I honestly don't know what would of happened to me if I didn't have you guys there for me." I said to him in a honest tone, and he smiled widely at me, placing a gentle hand on my knee.

"I treat every single one of the Glee Club members as if they were my own kids, and I never want to see them hurt." he said to me in a honest tone, and I could tell he was serious about it.

"Well Im glad you were there for me." I said to him in a genuine smile, seeing his smile back on his face. A slow song then came on in the GYM, and I felt someone take my hand in his. I looked back in front of me, seeing Mike standing with my hand in his and a smile on his face. Now I knew this was going to be tricky, since I was in a wheelchair. I wasn't going to have him sit in my lap and have me wheel around in circles, that would just suck.

But he did something that actually surprised me. Leaning down, he wrapped his arms around my middle and lifted me up in one swoop, holding me in his arms and leaving my feet to hang slightly off the floor. I was at first freaking out, wondering if he was going to drop me at any moment. But since he was in football, his strength was a good factor. HIs arms were completely around my middle, holding me close and I knew I wasn't going to go anywhere.

I placed my hands on his shoulders as he walked us out and away from the tables a bit, then moving around in a small circle, still holding me close and smiling at me as we heard the music going though the GYM.

_We were barely 18 when we'd crossed collective hearts._

_It was cold, but it got warm when you'd barely crossed my eye._

_and then you turned, put out your hand,_

_and you asked me to dance._

_I knew nothing of romance, but it was love at second sight._

_I swear when I grow up, I won't just buy you a rose._

_I will buy the flower shop, and you will never be lonely._

_Even if the sun stops waking up over the fields_

_I will not leave, I will not leave 'till it's our time._

_So just take my hand, you know that I will never leave your side._

As we danced, I saw other couples looking over at us to see how odd we were, Mike holding me up in his arms and swaying with me. But at that moment, I had no care or worry in the world since I was with him in our own little world. He kept smiling at me, his arms secure around me as I moved my hands from his shoulders to around his neck.

_You think that I nearly lost you_

_When the doctors tried to take you away._

_But like the night you took my hand beside the fire_

_30 years ago to this day_

_You swore you'd be here 'til we decide that it's our time_

_Well it's not time, you've never quit in all your life._

_So just take my hand, you know that I'll never leave your side._

_You're the love of my life, you know that I'll never leave your side._

At some part in the song, our foreheads touched and we closed our eyes, Mike still swaying us and I felt my fingers on the back of his neck touching his gelled down hair. It was still surreal, how we ended up together on the dance floor of Prom, who we go through the difficulties of life, and how we laughed through the pleasures as well. The song fit so well with the both of us, and as we snuck a kiss on the dance floor, his hold on me tightened and my breath leaving me.

I was home, finally home with Mike Chang

* * *

Fun. = The Gambler

leave me some reviews! I love it when you guys do that, it gets me in a great mood! I hope you love the story!


	19. Free As A Bird

Here's what every person singing would look like, so that you don't get confused.

Alice - **Like this**

Puck - _Like This_

Finn - Like this

Artie - _(Like this)_

Glee Club - _**Like This**_

* * *

The days after prom were brighter, filled with more warmth than coldness, more tears of joy than tears of sadness. I got back to walking again, feeling better now that I wasn't going to be wheeled around anymore like I was worthless. Artie playfully punched me for thinking like that, and I only stuck my tongue back at him for punching me. Leave it to Artie to make me laugh.

We had a competition coming up soon with some other schools in the area, and so we were going into crunch time. Rachel was working us hard when Mr. Shue was gone, and I could almost see smoke coming from Mercedes's ears in a fast rate. So on countless occasions Finn had to reel her in and have her relax for a moment or two.

On the day of our competition, I was faced with the mere fact that I was going to be singing on my own for a moment or two during one of our songs. Then my stage freight was kicking in, and I had no cello to hide behind. I was going to be out in the open, singing in front of a group of strangers. Running through different exercises I would do before with orchestra, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I opened my eyes from having them closed previously, turning to see who it was and I saw it was Mercedes. She had a warm smile on her face, making me smile back at her instantly.

"You nervous?" She asked me, and I nodded my head instantly. She could tell, so why would I want to hide it? She smiled at me and shrugged.

"You'll be fine, it's like we're back at school at one of our practices. I've heard you sing this song so many times before, you'll be fine." Mercedes reassured me and I smiled back at her, feeling a little bit better than before.

"Alright guys, we're on in five." I heard Mr. Shue say aloud with a big smile on his face and warmth in his voice. We all walked over to the side of the stage and met up with him, all of us having a hint of nervousness on our faces.

"So we'll open with Firework with Mercedes, then we'll go into Grenade with Alice and Puck, and we'll end with Winter Winds with Finn, Alice and Artie." Mr. Shue said to us, all of us nodding our head to know we knew what was going to happen next. I looked past him at the group in front of us, and all I could see was their dresses in vibrant red flying all around the stage with their vibrant moves. Not to mention their singing was quite good. The nervousness was back in my system once more, and I tried to go back to relaxing. Remember what Mercedes said, I thought in my head, try to picture yourself back in the Glee CLub rehearsal.

Mike walked over to me after Mr. Shue's pep talk, a small smile on his face as I looked down to see his red bandana around his wrist. I smiled widely at seeing it, since it was going with our dressing attire, some of the group in red dress shirts and others in yellow. Kurt thought it was a nice vibrant presentation to show how vibrant we were. I was wearing a red dress shirt and Mike was wearing yellow. He took my hand in his, and looked down to see I was wearing my yellow bracelet.

"You look beautiful, Alice." he said to me in a warm tone, and I blushed slightly from his remark.

"And you look quite handsome." I replied back to him, his smile growing a bit bigger from my own comment. Somehow having Mike there with me was already calming me down and getting me ready for the performance. He then leaned in a gave me a sweet kiss, and I smiled through it as our hold on each others hands tightened.

"Break a leg." He said against my lips. I giggled.

"That's my line." I replied back to him, sneaking in another kiss and hearing him sigh as I pulled away from him. We both then stood side by side, waiting for our turn to go onto the stage. My nervousness was gone, and all I could think about was being there, with the Glee Club members, and being there with Mike.

* * *

It was my turn for the duet with Puck and we both stood a bit ahead from the rest of the group, then I felt my nerves coming back. I searched the crowds, though all I saw was the light shining on our faces and darkness in the audience. HOwever I saw my parents, both smiling and with cameras in their hands as they watched me, seeing what I was going to do next. I smiled, feeling a little better as I looked over to Puck, who started the song:

_Easy come, Easy go_

_That's just how you live oh_

_Take, take, take it all_

_But you never give_

_Should have known_

_You was trouble_

_From the first kiss_

_Had your eyes wide open_

_Why were they open?_

It was my turn to sing, and for a mere moment I lost my breath but found it once more, when the mere thought of Mike kissing me flooded my mind. I started to sing, my voice was brassy and deep as I did my bit, looking over at Puck as I sang.

**Gave you all I had**

**And you tossed it in the trash,**

**Tossed it in the trash you did**

**To give me all your love**

**Is all I ever asked**

**But you don't understand**

We both took turns on the chorus, and we heard the Glee Club behind us singing the background. It almost gave me chills to ear us sing like that, with raw power and hate in our tones of voices, something I never thought I would hear coming from us at all. But I could see in the audience a couple of heads bobbing with us and singing along as well, so it was no big deal to me as I felt myself go.

_I'd catch a grenade for ya_** _(yeah, yeah, yeah)_**

**Throw my hand on a blade for ya _(yeah, yeah, yeah)_**

_I'd jump in front of a train for ya_**_ (yeah, yeah, yeah)_**

**You know I'd do anything for ya _(yeah, yeah, yeah)_**

_Oh, oh I would go through all this pain,_

**Take a bullet straight through my brain**,

_Yes, I would die for ya baby_

**But you won't do the same**

**

* * *

**

It was time for our last song and Artie, Finn and I were going to sing it, the rest of the group staying behind to sing the chorus with us once again. I already felt good about the previous song with Puck and now with that song, I felt so confident and so alive.

_(As the winter winds litter London with lonely hearts_

_Oh the warmth in your eyes swept me into your arms _

_Was it love or fear of the cold that led us through the night? _

_For every kiss your beauty trumped my doubt)_

_**And my head told my heart 'Let love grow' **_

_**But my heart told my head **_

_**'This time no This time no'**_

Artie sang the first verse of the song, and the rest of us joined him at the chorus with a softer tone of voice than with Grenade. it was like we were singing a lullaby, or a love song to someone. To sing it louder would of destroyed our purpose for the song and made it horrible.

We'll be washed and buried one day my girl 

And the time we were given will be left for the world 

The flesh that lived and loved will be eaten by plague

So let the memories be good for those who stay 

_**And my head told my heart 'Let love grow' **_

_**But my heart told my head 'This time no' **_

_**Yes, my heart told my head 'This time no This time no'**_

**Oh the shame that sent me off from the God that I once loved  
Was the same that sent me into your arms  
Oh and pestilence is won when you are lost and I am gone  
****And no hope, no hope will overcome**

**_And my head told my heart_  
_"Let love grow"_  
_But my heart told my head_  
_"This time no"_**

My voice rang through the auditorium like I was in a Cathedral, and it gave me another boost to hear how good I sounded in front of the strangers. And as we sang the rest of the song, I felt like I was home.

I felt like I was where I needed to be.

* * *

We got first place at night, and Mr. Shue thought it would be nice to celebrate at a local diner near the school. Since it was a Friday night, we got to stay after the diner closed down for the rest of the world, having the place to ourselves. We felt like Gods, like we were indestructible and ready to rule the world with our tall trophy that stood in the middle of the floor and the rest of us munching on our food around it, like it was a bonfire and we were paying homage. We had burgers and sundaes, the feeling of Gods flooding through us like fire as we ate.

The diner crew left us alone, thinking we weren't going to do any damage at all to the diner whilst they were in the back cleaning. We weren't the football players after a game, we had more class than them. So when they left, Mr. Shue stood up with his plate in one hand and his other hand open, the rest of us looked at him to see what he was going to talk about.

"Congratulations everyone, you all did really well and you deserve this trophy!" Mr. Shue said in a booming tone and we all cheered, holing up a french fry or two in the process like we were making a toast.

"Man did we dominate that stage tonight!" Mercedes said in a proud tone, and we all nodded our heard with her.

"Those songs were perfect to use." Artie said aloud from next to me and I grinned from his remark.

"Well, as good as we were and in winning first place, at least one show tune would of been a instant shoe in for first prize." Rachel commented in her matter of fact tone of voice, and I saw Santana roll her eyes at her remark.

"Please, the songs we used worked, not to mention they were ten times better since we have Alice singing them." Quinn said aloud in a grin and they all cheered, making me want to blush and hide behind my half eaten burger.

"That's right, girl's got game when it comes to singing!" Santana said in a grin and in her dominating tone of voice. I felt Mike grasp my hand and squeeze it, showing that it was okay to accept her compliment.

"To Alice, and her first Glee competition!" Mike said aloud, his eyes on me the whole time as he raised his burger. The rest of the club, including Mr. Shue, raised their burgers in the process and cheered, making me feel like we were King Arthur at the Round Table. I smiled at all of them, thinking it was wonderful to have them all as friends.

"Oh, Finn you got some ketchup in my hair!" Rachel said in a huff and we all looked at her, but it wasn't in her hair. Finn in fact got ketchup on her nose as well, and I saw Finn laughing and pointing to her nose. She tried to look herself, but she went cross eyed and looked back at Finn like she was about to explode. I was waiting for it, but what she did next really startled me. She grinned, taking a bit of ketchup from her own plate and smearing it on Finn's cheek. His laughing stopped them, and she started to laugh like she was a young child again. The rest of the Glee Club was shocked to see what they were doing, there was no yelling or no fight between them.

"I think she lost her mind." Kurt said aloud with fear in his voice, I was going ton concur when I saw Brittany starting to laugh at Finn's ketchup, Finn looked over at her, scooping up some mustard from his plate, and then chucking it at her. Yellow mustard was in Brittany's hair and she kept giggling as Artie starting laughing at her. Brittany swiped his hair with whipped cream from her sundae and then all hell broke loose. Puck stood up and grinned a wicked grin.

"Food fight!" He yelled like he was about to go into battle, then throwing his fries at Quinn. The rest of us stood up form our chairs and starting throwing anything we had on our plates and by our feet at each other. The diner that was once clean was now smeared with cream, mustard, ketchup, fries, patties and ice cream. Our laughter was filling the room as food was flying back and forth in a fast rate. It was almost like a battle, but it was done in a beautiful way as I threw my hamburger at Rachel and tucked from getting pickles sent my Tina into my eyes. Thank God we changed from our performance outfits in our regular clothes.

Mr. Shue, who I thought would try and break it up, was even joining us and laughing like he was our age again. We all were smearing, throwing, swiping, rubbing, coating, and messing each other up. Some of us were falling to the ground from how slippery the floor became and other tried to grasp a table for support.

I tried to look for Mike, but through the flying food and my cream my eyes already, I couldn't find him. But then I was slammed by a pie in a face, and I heard Mike. I knew it was him, only he would pie me in the face and get away from it. I shook it off but held it in my hands, instantly chucking it into his face and laughing at him. He whipped it off his face, the both of us covered in pie cream and laughing as the others had the food fight. Throughout the laughter, the ketchup on my jeans and Mike kissing me while we were both covered in whipped cream, it was the happiest time of my life.

Purely the happiest, even with mustard in my red hair and radish up my nose.


	20. Hold Me Tight

Summer was so close I could taste it on my tongue, so it was safe to say I was ready to be done and over with this year, school wise. Glee Club was the only thing at the school to keep me happy and sane, along with Mike of course. And we both got a good opportunity, something I never saw coming to be honest.

There was a performing arts troupe, or group if you will, that was real popular in Ohio. They would play certain music every year at the beginning of summer in Cincinnati. I love seeing them every year, once year they played music from John Williams, and another year it was strictly Titanic. So it was safe to say, they were a fantastic group.

Mike and I were approached by one of the directors of the Cincinnati Orchestra and Performers Troupe, or COPT for short. He saw our performance at our of our competitions, the one where Mike had a bit of a dance solo during the song "Haven't Met You Met" by Michael Buble, and my bit in "Magic" by ben Folds. He told us we were good, and since Mr. Shue told him to come and see us, he wanted the both of us to be featured in his summer concert series for a month of two into the summer. We both accepted, and we both were going to perform in front of Cincinnati, almost in front of all Ohio. I wasn't nervous.

Really I wasn't.

We both were going to be featured as soloists in the series during one song, and since the theme for the concert series was of Disney's Pixar, we were chosen for Up. It reminded me of Dorothy, how she would call me Ellie and would have me read to her. So I decided to play for no one else, but her. No one else deserved it but her.

Mike and I would go to practice with them on the weekends, so that we wouldn't have to miss any of Glee Practice at all during that month of two of preparation. And when opening night for us, the Glee Club promised to be there for the both of us, since it was the last day of school and that night was our night.

I tuned my last string on my cello, hearing it go into place and smiled. I looked over my shoulder and saw the other players tuning their own instruments. They all were in college, if not older, so I was the youngest one there behind the curtain. That alone made me scared, wondering how they were going to judge me for being with young and having a solo in front of them. I knew the behind of scenes in orchestra, and it was bloody on good days.

"Alice." I heard to my right, and I saw Puck walking over to me with a small smile on his lips. I was shocked, wondering why he was backstage when the rest of the group was already sitting in the audience. I placed my cello on the floor and walked over to him, seeing his smile widen slightly as I grinned at him.

"What are you doing here? SHouldn't you be siting with the rest of the guys?" I asked him aloud in curiosity. He smiled and shrugged.

"I wanted to come in and wish you good luck myself, and I was the only one who could sneak by security and not make a scene." Puck replied to me in his trademark tone of voice, a grin as well.

"And plus, Rachel wanted to give you this before you went on tonight, I don't know why but it's Rachel." Puck explained, taking out something from inside his jacket pocket, what looked like a small ring box. He placed it gently in my hands and I opened it, thinking why he would give me a ring box.

Inside was a balloon pin, a very nice one in fact that one would get at a jewelry store. It was bright yellow, one of my favorite colors, glittering in the stage lights above me as I felt the small weight in my hand. It was so beautiful, something that instantly reminded me of Dorothy, and my love for hot air balloons.

"We all pitched in and got you this, and we got Mike the same thing but in blue. Artie told us about Dorothy, which is partially why we got you this, he told us she liked Up and you liked it too." Puck explained to me as I placed the pin in the palm of my hand, still a bit overwhelmed by the gift I was holding in my hands.

"And Mike told us you liked hot air balloons, since your birthday is only a few days away, we decided to get you a gift from all of us." Puck explained to me in a honest tone, I looked up at him and saw him looking at me for approval, hoping I liked it. I said nothing, since words wouldn't be merely enough to describe this moment. THe only action I could think of doing was hugging him, so I did. He instantly hugged me back, and I felt warmth going through me as he hugged me, one of the many things I loved about Puck.

"Thank you, for everything you've done for me." I whispered to him, feeling his hold on me tightened.

"I didn't do anything Alice." He denied, and I knew he was denying it truly. But I shook my head in his arms.

"You protected me from Karofsky, you helped me get through the loss of Dorothy, you were just there for me." I replied back to him, hearing him sigh slightly in my grasp and I squeezed him slightly in return.

"You're my friend, Alice." He simply replied, making me smile as we kept our hug. Sure it was a simple reply, but it meant so much for me, so very much. When he pulled away I looked down, ever more in shock to see that he was wearing a nice dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

"You're wearing a dress shirt?" I asked in disbelief. He looked down as well and then instantly smiled, shrugging and looked back at me.

"My mom made me do it." He replied back to me, trying to get his bad boy image back on his sleeve, but I started laughing and fixed his collar from damaging it from the hug. Puck would be a puddle of happiness one minute and then he would go back to his normal self the next.

That boy is something else.

* * *

I was sitting alone in a chair on the stage in front of the audience. I was wearing a nice summer dress with no shoes, since no one else was going to wear shoes for that song. The hot air balloon pin was on my dress, and I felt proud to wear it and have the world see. There was only a backdrop of blue behind us, and clouds were moving in and out from the backdrop like it was normal routine. I started playing the cello solo from Up, and I saw out of the corner of my eye a couple of dancers doing a contemporary dance around us, and the orchestra moved in right after I played my solo. I could see from where I was the background having more colors, the balloons were coming through onto the screen, later the small victorian house rising in the air on the screen and the sound of the audience gasping with how it looked.

I kept playing, then seeing Mike doing his solo next to me on my right. He was wearing a nice white shirt, sleeves rolled up of course and white pants, almost looking like a god on earth or a angel even as he moved his arms and legs with such fluid motion. The song was in a waltz type of rhythm, in 3/4 so the dancers were mostly waltzing with each other on on their own, if only I could watch myself instead of being behind my cello playing a solo.

I only saw in a fast movement, but I saw Mike and his hot air balloon pin on his shirt. It was blue, a striking blue that reminded me of the ocean, and even though was a mere glance I was so glad that he wore it like I did. It felt like we both were in hot air balloons, flying away from the world and into our own reality.

Our own world together.

* * *

"Can you believe we could go to this school with scholarships?" I asked MIke aloud, out of disbelief as we were laying out on a blanket in the park that Sunday afternoon, the night after the concert. A college scout was at the concert to look at college students for grad school, yet we caught his eye. Who knew, to be honest I was shocked to be approached my him. He was from California, from the University of San Francisco, which had a prestigous music and dance program. Our scholarship, was merely a twist of fate.

A very big twist of fate.

"It's a great school." Mike added as I rearranged the sunglasses I had on my face to protect my eyes from the sun. It was very warm that day, and being able to wear a sundress and Ray Ban Wayfers was heavenly.

"What do you think about it?" I asked Mike, sitting up on my hands and looking down at him on my right side. He was wearing his own Ray Ban Wayfers, his was black and mine was blue, as he looked up at the sky holding the school brochure in his hand.

"Well, I do like the fact that it has a great dance program." Mike said aloud, sitting up as well and brushing some of the hair away from my bare shoulder that was close to him. I smiled from the contact of his hand on my shoulder, a small shiver going up my spine.

"Sad to say Mike, they have no football there." I said to him in a teasing tone, and he playfully poked my side and I giggled from his move. He laughed a bit, looking at the brochure himself and I did as well, looking over and resting my chin on his shoulder, seeing the old buildings and the different concerts they had on the brochure.

"And it's in California, where there's an actual ocean, and places to go." Mike said to me, kissing my cheek in the process as he leaned his head against mine.

"We can be away from here, no more dealing with drama from the football team, no more being hated for the fact that we can dance and play an instrument, we can go to this college where we can actually meet people, like us." I explained to him, running some of my fingers into his jet black hair. He smiled and nodded his head.

"Dancers and Cellists?" Mike asked aloud. I said nothing, and we both smiled since we were both thinking on the same subject. I felt a light breeze going through the area, the grass was warm under my fingertips as my other hand was occupied with Mike's hair.

"I say we go." Mike said aloud, from out of the blue and I looked at him with some surprise in my eyes.

"You do?" I asked aloud, and he nodded his head, sitting up a bit more.

"Yeah, I mean I wanna go. It's a great school, and the fact that we can go there for free is even better." Mike explained to me, "I can dance there and not be ridiculed or teased like I do here. And I know for a fact you want the same for you." After he said that to me, I nodded my head knowing deep inside that I wanted to leave Lima, Ohio. I wanted the teasing to stop, and the bullying as well.

"Plus, I don't wanna go without you." Mike ended on a more softer tone, and I smiled looking down at my lap from hearing that remark. I would still blush from the little things he would say to me, or how he would hold my hand in public.

"What do you say?" Mike asked aloud, and I looked back at him seeing some hope in his eyes for me to say yes. The way he would look at me sometimes would make me loose my train of thought or even my breath or a mere moment or two, and that look he was giving me there was one of those. So I only leaned in a kissed him firm on the lips, placing my fingers on his jaw to firmly hold him still as I felt one of his go onto my lower back, his fingers sprawling out as if he was mapping my back.

I pulled away slightly after a moment or two, but we were still close enough to have our lips barely touch. He smiled against my lips, making me smile back at him and scoot closer to him slightly.

"So is that a yes?" Mike said against my lips in a warm tone. I nodded my head and he wrapped both of his arms around me, the both of us hugging each other and feeling better that we were going to college together. I wouldn't of wanted to go with anyone else but him.

No else else without him.


	21. I Need You

Thank goodness for summer vacation, and thank goodness for being able to not be in school for a couple of months. Mike and I spent a whole lot of time together, and every Sunday night we would go to the park early evening to just be at piece. The Glee Club hung out as well, going out every other night and just having fun together. We had no competitions. well none we couldn't handle ourselves. Sometimes we were asked to sing at a benefit dinner for some big shots from the cities, and other ones were from other schools. We won, of course, and to celebrate we would go to one of our houses and have our own party.

I remember one evening Mike and I went out with the group was when we went into Cincinnati, seeing Mr. Shue and Miss Pillsbury getting married. I found it a shock, but in a good way since I thought they were so perfect together as a couple. The Glee Club was ecstatic, and we all knew it was going to happen. It was held at a nice hotel there, and since Miss Pillsbury was such a OCD, everything there was perfect to a "p". The colors were a light shade of yellow and blue, the flowers were roses and the fabric was linen. It was held in the ballroom with outdoor porch lights strung along the ceilings, and a live band was there to play some of their favorite music.

Miss Pillsbury was beautiful in her simple but elegant wedding dress, and Mr. Shue was handsome at the altar. I sat next to Mike during the ceremony, seeing how Miss Pillsbury used a napkin to hold her wedding vow in her hand, and how Mr. Shue was placing the ring on her finger. It made me smile, to see the both of them happy and in love. Mike gently squeezed my hand in his, and I looked over at him briefly. He was wearing a nice suit, his hair slicked back for the occasion like prom. He was so handsome in his suit, new feelings were going on in my stomach that made me ache in a good way. I was hearing a nice blue dress, white flats and my hair in loose curls, the bangs pinned back with a butterfly pin and simple make up. Mike moved his hand away from me, wrapped it around my shoulders and I leaned into him, watching Mr. Shue leaning in to kiss Miss Pillsbury softly on the lips.

He wanted us to go only as guests, no need for us to sing to him or his new wife. But we did anyways, we sang All You Need is Love from The Beatles for their first dance. They looked like they were from another world, one of pure happiness and joy and nothing else. The rest of the reception was consumed of live music from the band, freshly prepared veggie trays and precisely cutted sandwiches. I danced with the rest of the Glee Club on the floor to all of the fast paced songs and even the slower ones. For one of the dances I danced with Mr. Shue, and the tune was nice as we swayed with the rest of the attendees.

"I'm happy for you and Mrs. Shue." I said to him as he laughed from my remark. He nodded his head as we swayed with the music, "You feel any different?"

"Not really, but now that I have a wife I do feel a bit more..." Mr. Shue trailed off, trying to find the right word.

"Grown up?" I asked, he laughed from my remark and shrugged.

"You could say that." He replied back to me. I was glad he was so happy and starting a new life with his new wife.

"Are you guys going to stay at McKinley?" I asked him, only out of sheer curiosity. Mr. Shue thought about it for a second, but I knew he knew I was really meaning if he was going to leave the Glee Club behind. It would hurt a bit to know that he was going to leave, after all he did for us and what he would do for the future members. Even though I was graduating, it would still be hard to see him go, if he was veer to go.

"For now we are. Emma and I talked about it, and for at least five more years we can stay at McKinley, we're not going to go through some major new changes just yet." Mr. Shue explained to me and I nodded my head, still having that small sense that he was going to leave, "I'm not one for leaving you guys so soon and so quickly."

"That's good, you need to get the future Glee Club members to be just as great as we are." I said to him with a genuine smile on my face.

"That is true, but you guys are already amazing to begin with." Mr. Shue said in a grin. I knew then that we were going to be okay as a group.

* * *

The rest of the night was pure bliss, being able to dance and have good food, almost like a pause in our world and a small taste of what life was going to be like in the real world beyond high school. Our parents, thankfully had us get hotel rooms only because it was better to stay the night instead of driving home late at night. I was getting rather tired as it was, so Mike was walking me to my room as the others went to their own rooms.

I slipped off my shoes and sat down on the bed, sighing in relief to be able to sit and Mike still standing and shoving his hands in his jacket pockets. I could tell he was going to tell me something, and that he wasn't going to like it. He was hiding something, and it was scaring me that he would since we would never hide anything from each other. I only stared at him for a moment or two, wondering why I felt like I wasn't looking at the same Mike I was in a relationship with.

"Mike, either you tell me what's wrong, or I'll have to start guessing." I said in a slow tone, suddenly being really scared at what was going to come out from him. He looked over at me, and I could tell he was grave about something.

"My dad doesn't want me to go to California." As soon as he said those words, I felt like something deep inside of me was going gray. Mike couldn't go with me, to California, away from here. Being in California without Mike seemed like a nightmare, a horrible nightmare. I felt like I was in a dream and I needed to be woken up, then I knew Mike was going with me. But no, this was reality, and what he was saying to me was real.

"He...doesn't..." I said, trying to find my voice again from the horrible news I got from him.

"Want me to go, he wants me to stay here in Lima and go to a college close by." Mike ended for me in a soft tone. I shook my had, thinking if I did that then it would be false.

"But what about our scholarship?" I asked him in a soft tone, knowing if I said it loud and filled with sadness it would sound horrible to him. Mike shook his head and then sat down next to me on the hotel bed.

"He doesn't think it's a good idea for me to go, you know how my dad is." Mike explained to me as I tried not to show how I was truly feeling. His dad was harsh, I knew that from meeting him a handful of time for dinner or Mike's birthday lunch. But I wouldn't think of him going this far as to keeping Mike here in Ohio while I go. It made me think, if I were to take up the scholarship, and leave Ohio, I would be leaving Mike behind. I wouldn't want to waste a opportunity as to go to school for free and to be at a great school, but it wouldn't be the same without him.

"Alice?" I heard next to me, and I felt him take my hand and I knew he was looking at me to see what I was doing. What was I going to say to him, that I didn't want to go without him? That was brash, and it sounded so mean of me to say that to him. I didn't want it to be about it, this was about him now not me.

"Please say something." Mike said in a almost pleading tone. I finally looked over at him and I could see that he was concerned about my reaction.

"What do you want me to tell you?" I asked him in almost a flat tone, not knowing what else to say except the truth: I didn't want him to stay, I wanted him to go with me. But that would be selfish, that would be mean of me.

"I want to know what you're thinking. You're scaring me right now, not saying anything." Mike replied back to me and I bit my lip, still trying to find the words to tell him.

"If you want my honest opinion." I started, and I saw him nodding his head, waiting to me to tell him what I said. I got up from the bed and started pacing back and forth in front of Mike, who was following me wherever I go.

"I want you to come with me, I hate the fact that your father is making you stay here and not come with me to California. I hate the fact that if you stay and I leave, then I can't see your face anymore, or hear your voice, or even just get through the goddamn day without you, period!" I said in a loud tone, almost on the brink of tears as I spilled out what I was feeling. My voice was on the verge of anger and rage, but not to Mike but to the fact that we wouldn't be together. I hated it, it as killing me. I really wasn't focusing on Mike anymore, just my rage that was going through my body and system.

"Hey, hey!" I heard next to me in a rushed tone, and I felt hands on my arms I snapped out of it in a instant and I saw Mike right in front of me, looking down at me with worry in his eyes. Tears were coming down my face and I felt like I was shaking in my dress and with Mike holding my arms. He sighed finally, leaning down to have my forehead touch his and I could tell he was hurting too. I was silent, not wanting to say anything else to him.

"I don't like this either, I hate this." Mike said to me in a now calm tone, rubbing my arms in a soothing notion and I breathed, nodding my head to show I was listening.

"My mom is still going to talk him out of it, but it doesn't look good." Mike said to me in a low tone. I still felt like this was a cruel trick on me, and I was going to wake up any moment. Because this moment, it was too cruel to be real.

"I can't leave without you..." I trailed off, resting my hands on his shoulders, trying to hold onto him so that I would crumble to the floor. HIs hold on my arms tightened slightly from my movement and he nodded his head against mine. I closed my eyes, trying to not look at his beautiful eyes anymore to only receive pain in return, "I can't..."

"I don't want you to give this up for me, Alice. Please, don't give this up for me." Mike said to me, trying to reassure me and soothe me from my pain. But the pain was bearable, the pain was something I could live with. I honestly couldn't go through college without him, he made somedays bearable to live through.

"Mike, how am I going to go there without you next to me, answer me that?" I asked him in a low tone, feeling more tears threatening to expose from my eyes. Mike shook his head and whipped the tears away with his thumb, framing my face gently yet in a stern manner and keeping very still. I tried to think of positive things, but it was useless with this news going on in my mind. No Mike in college with us, what was going to happen?

But I then felt Mike's lips on mine and my thoughts were gone in a instant. Without even thinking I kissed him back hotly, feeling his hands on my face going to my lower back and the other on the back of my head, kissing me back just as demandingly. I gripped his shoulders as we kissed in the hotel room, only the two of us and the dim light of the hotel lamp.

We were never this aggressive when it came to kissing, but in all honestly we both were scared for the future and we had tog et our feelings out in some way, shape or form. I felt my pain slipping away from the mere touches of his fingers on my lower back near my zipper as my hands found his tie, loosening it and throwing it to the floor, going back for his buttons on his shirt. His fingers found the zipper on my dress as I was leaned back onto the bed softly, and his shirt was gone having me feel his bare chest against my fingers.

It all made me feel like I was on ecstasy, all like I was about to be given the best drug in the world. Mike was my drug, I loved the feel of his skin next to him, his scent of Old Spice lingering in my nose and his kisses on my lips. Hearing him moan slightly as I rang my fingers down his chest was giving me fuel, given me more of a loving feeling as his fingers slowing pulled down the shoulder straps of my dress.

We had tomorrow to worry about, but now we only had each other as Mike turned off the light in the room and I took out the clip in my hair, placing it on the floor with my dress and Mike's shoes and shirt.

We had each other tonight.

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Hey Guys, I hop you love my story! Leave me some mad reviews! Here are some more songs that helped made this chapter a little more enjoyable!

Royal Wood = A Mirror Without

Royal Wood = Do You Recall

Cage the Elephant = Shake Me Down


	22. I Wanna Be Your Man

High school was gone in a flash. I thought it would take forever, but it went by so fast I had no time to blink. It would be a sad moment for some, trying to hold onto what we had in our last year in high school and try to make things good. Other tried to breeze through in a fast rate, wanting to get out and get out alive. I was stuck in the middle, both wanting to get out of the high school life for good and quickly, but also wanting to slow it down and enjoy my time with Glee Club, what I had left for it anyways.

Senior year was pretty memorable, starting off the fall with competitions left and right, going to different schools and GYMS on the weekend and winning all but two of them. The two we lost to, we got second place being very close to first. Rachel, being the diva that she was, almost started a riot with her antics and hate towards the fact that we did not win. Finn had to calm her down, making me have the firm concern for the college that she was going to, they stood no chance.

Mike came to me in late October with news: his father decided to let him go to San Francisco with me on scholarship. I was so thrilled that I hugged him with all of my might in the middle of the school hallway, feeling him swing me around in return and kissing me on the cheek. I had the continuing notion that he was never going to go with me to California, and that notion floating in my mind was scary, let alone horrible to think about it and occupy my brain with. But now that he was coming with me, and the both of us already okay with the school, I was content. Completely content.

The rest of the year went without a hitch, I got to play once or twice with the Cincinnati Orchestra, and Mike had a job at a dance studio with the preschool kids, mostly of a motion moving class and he would help out one of the more strict teachers, making it more fun for the kids. I would come in to see him perform for the kids during the last part of the class, seeing him move his arms around like a squid and the kids trying to imitate him and giggling whilst dancing. I knew then that he had to work with kids, somehow he had to.

As soon as we graduated, the summer was filled with the Glee Kids trying to hang out as much as possible before we had college to go to in the fall. Kurt was going to NYU, along with Rachel and they both were going to sing. Sam got a football opportunity in California at USC, Quinn went with him as well but she went to UCLA , and I somehow knew that that going to be a bit awkward. Artie was going to go to school in Washington at Seattle for music theory, Santana and Brittany were going to be at LIma Community College for awhile, and Brittany was going to study animals, I could picture her doing that actually. Puck and Tina at Ohio State, Finn to Kanas State with football, so we all were going in our own directions. But I knew we were going to stay in touch constantly, emailing and Facebooking each other everyday. I knew we were going to be alright, we had to be.

I moved into my new dorm, my parents right behind me with my things and my cello in hand as I saw my roommate already inside and settled. Her name's Emily, and she's also a music major playing the flute. She's from Oklahoma, but she's pretty chill and nice to hang out with, so every night we would go out into town and see what there was to do around there. I was glad to have another friend there in San Francisco, and someone who was just as odd as me.

Mike liked his roommate Alan, who was a History Major and quite frankly a bad dancer. I thought it would bug him, but Mike was all up to teaching him how to dance only for when we would go out at night and go out to clubs. Alan's real nice, he helps Mike with History and in return Mike teaches him how to dance. I was glad to make friends there, but they weren't the same as the kids from Glee.

Throughout our first year as freshman, we stayed in contact with the Glee Club, hearing on how they were doing and how much it was better than McKinley High. I also kept up with Mr. Shue, as I knew the rest of the club did. He missed us, but he got some kids to be a part of the Glee Club and they're rather good, making me glad he still was keeping our club alive, as long as Sue Sylvester leaved him alone. He was doing well with Mrs. Shue, they both got their own little house close by the school.

I was enjoying the music program, and I knew Mike was enjoying the dance program there as well. There was more work to look forward to when it came to rehearsals and concerts, and some months Mike and I rarely saw each other to just be ourselves, but we made up for it when he would take me out to dinner, or when we would go out to a club with Alan and Emily. We would never a flamboyant couple, kissing in public or saying such things to each others like in high school, but we would hold hands, whisper to each other and simple hugs would happen.

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I do remember one moment in our sophomore year at the University, I was on Skype with Kurt and Mercedes, being on the party line. That night was nice and crisp since it was in April, and the sun was about to set over the city view that I had in the dorm room. Emily was in the room as well, listening to her music and having her retro headphones on over her ears.

"How's Mamma Mia going Kurt?" I asked Kurt on the laptop, seeing Kurt sigh on the screen and ruffle his hair. I could tell he was in his own room at the time, plenty of Musical posters up on his walls along with pictures of Lady Gaga and Beyonce.

"It's coming along, but trying to work with divas on stage is taking its toll on my pores." Kurt explained and I laughed, Mercedes on another part of the screen laughed with me as well.

"Well at least they're not Rachel, whom is I'm not mistaken is doing rather well as I recall in the production of Les Miserables." Mercedes said aloud and I saw Kurt nodding his head.

"I'm going to go see it opening night, and she's coming to see mine. It's our own mutual agreement between the two of us, and I know Finn's coming up from Kanas to see it and staying for the weekend, so guess who's rooming with me." Kurt explained aloud, and I could tell from the tone of his voice that he was a wee bit ticked about it.

"How will Blaine take it?" I asked him, knowing that Blaine was Kurt's new boyfriend and they both were musical freaks. I met him once or twice, via Skype of course and once when he came to Lima Ohio with Kurt the summer after out freshman year in college.

"He'll be okay, I can convince him that a straight boy in our room won't disturb our peaceful aura that we have already." Kurt replied back to me and I started combing my hair, feeling how thick it was and how it had knots from the rehearsal that day.

"What's Mike up to today?" Mercedes asked aloud to me and I yawned, feeling a bit of tiredness coming over me.

"He had practice for about a few hours after his one class, but he was going to come over and we were going to hang out my room tonight." I explained to the both of them and I got two smiles back in return.

"You two are getting pretty serious, and as I recall you thought you were never going to have a chance with him." Kurt explained to me and I waved him off.

"Thanks for bringing that up, and how long ago was that?" I asked him, seeing him scoff and wave me off in return. I was about to say something else but I felt a pair of arms go around me and the scent of Old Spice filled the air and I instantly smiled, not even needing to turn and see who it was to know who it was. but thankfully Mercedes jumped the gun.

"Hey Mike, we were just talking about you." Mercedes said in a grin and I knew she was grinning at the fact that Mike was holding me in such a romantic state. I felt lips against my lips under my earlobe and I grinned even wider.

"Oh were now?" I heard him say to Mercedes in a surprising tone, but I knew he knew that we already were. One of his arms left me and went over to one of the laptop buttons on the keyboard.

"Now if you excuse me, I must get to giving my girlfriend much needed attention." Mike said aloud and he clicked a button, the Skype automatically logging off and I felt him pull me back in my rolling chair. I got up and instantly whirled around, seeing Mike in his dance clothes and a wee bit sweaty. I loved it when he would come to my dorm a bit sweaty, call me nuts.

"I missed you." Mike said to me as I wrapped my arms around him and held him close. I loved breathing him in, more than ever as He wrapped his own arms around me and his nose slightly going into my hair.

"How was practice?" I asked him in a somewhat soft tone, looking over his shoulder and seeing that Emily already left the room. Mike must of done it while I was talking to Kurt and Mercedes, damn him.

"It was long, very stressful since we have a session coming up at the end of the month, but I'm glad to be here with you." Mike explained to me, dropping a kiss onto my shoulder.

"Oh really?" I asked him aloud, hearing a small chuckle on his lips as he still held me close and I rested my head on his shoulder.

"Well, we haven't really spent a whole time together, since we had school and all." I explained to him, still very close to his ear as I felt him stroke my back in a soothing motion and I smiled, feeling a wee bit of tiredness coming through me.

"I did hear Mercedes say something about how you never thought you and I would be together." Mike said to me, and I felt like kicking Mercedes for saying that aloud.

"I was young, and you scared that crap out of me." I explained to him and I when he kissed my hair I felt him smile against my hair.

"You did the same for me, heck you still scare me from time to time. Have you seen your face when you play the cello, it's quite frightening." Mike explained aloud and I giggled in his arms.

"That's not fair, you're ridiculous when you dance the waltz." I replied back to him and he laughed from my remark.

"Now who's being unfair." I said back in retaliation and I felt a kiss on my cheek.

"In all honesty, I'm glad that I have you. These past three years have been worthwhile since I have you with me." Mike explained to me as his hold on my tightened slightly when he spoke of it. I was then confused, wondering why he got so serous all of the sudden. I then felt one hand leaving my body, and then his entire body leaving mine. I looked and saw him going down on one knee and a small velvet box was in his left hand. My hands were shaking in mid air and my breath left me as he opened the velvet box, a small ring inside of it. Mike was being so bold, very bold as he looked up at me with such seriousness and determination as he uttered the words to me, faint but fierce.

"Alice, will you marry me?"

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That's it everyone! I hope you like it! Let me know how it is and if you want a sequel or not! thanks again for your support and reviews!


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